Congressmen Pat Fallon, Brendan Boyle participate in Voter Awareness Week
The Executive Cabinet of Notre Dame’s Student Government invited Congressman Brendan Boyle, Pennsylvania Democrat and Notre Dame class of ’99, and Congressman Pat Fallon, Texas Republican and Notre Dame class of ’90, to discuss political polarization in the U.S. Congress. During the October 11 panel, the two alumni also expressed their desire for Notre Dame students to involve themselves in federal politics and become democratic participants.
Dawson Kiser, Student Body President of Notre Dame, began the event by introducing the congressmen and describing the importance of this event in the midst of Student Government’s Voter Awareness Week. Kiser explained, “As student’s of Our Lady’s University, we are called to engage in dialogue with open minds and open hearts and build bridges between different viewpoints.”
Junior Jack Onderdonk, Student Government Director of National Affairs and Political Engagement, served as the moderator for the panel. Onderdonk began by asking the congressmen, “How did the values that both of you learned during your time at Notre Dame impact your lives as public servants?”
In response, Boyle spoke about how his father being an Irish immigrant made Notre Dame a “privileged” experience for him, saying, “Many people assume that my parents were in politics … but my dad was a blue-collar worker for most of his life and my mom was a school crossguard, so for me coming to Notre Dame was a dream come true.”
Fallon responded by detailing how transferring to Notre Dame formed his work-ethic: “Because I was a transfer, I lived off campus and had to take the bus to campus every morning, so I would tell myself every morning when I had to get up at 5:30 that this is the price you’re paying for slacking off in high school.”
Onderdonk then transitioned the panel toward the current state of congressional polarization and corruption, asking, “What valuable lessons can lawmakers draw on from being involved in the 118th Congress, especially when it comes to working across the aisle?”
Fallon argued that discord is a normal part of the political process, saying, “Democracy is messy, and the Chinese congress looks upon us in Beijing and they say, ‘see how dysfunctional [the U.S. Congress] is’… but [the Chinese Government] ultimately has no legitimacy and one day it’s going to be up for debate whether we will let representative Republicans win out or let totalitarianism take over the globe.”
Fallon also pointed out that, in the past, Congress has been “highly functional and 99 percent of all legislation passed had some bipartisan support.” He did, however, criticize the extreme partisanship in Congress and noted, “The vast majority of members in Congress are doing it for the right reasons, but there are some looney tunes who are in it for themselves … you should have seen the fights we had in the Republican Caucus.”
Boyle then transitioned to speaking on the consequences of the division among Republicans in the last Congress, stating, “In the last two years there have been some bad internal divisions [in the Republican Party] … so if we take off the Republican head and the Democrat head, the lesson to be learned is that you need strong party discipline.”
Fallon refuted Boyle’s point about the struggles of Republican unity, saying, “If we would have had a ‘unified government,’ we would have had some major wins and accomplishments as well.” Fallon also mentioned former Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, and her ability to strictly lead the Democrat Party, recalling, “When we were in the cloak room and we would see that there were five [Democrats] that were going to vote with us (Republicans), we knew that was going to go [popping noises] because she would find them and she would whip them.”
Later in the event, Onderdonk asked explicitly about political polarization in Congress and beyond, to which Boyle responded, “In the previous eras of the 1960’s and 1970’s you had much more ideologically diverse parties … and political scientists of that time wanted more ideologically pure parties, but I think the old way was probably better.” He further reasoned that this gave both parties “more flexibility” in congressional votes and “both parties today have purified themselves.”
Additionally, Fallon emphasized that politics is a “relationship business” and said, “You can’t get anything done by yourself, there are just too many people [in the House of Representatives]. … It drives me nuts when someone says, ‘I passed this bill.’ You didn’t pass it, it was we and us.”
Onderdonk then asked for the congressmen’s opinions on political violence in the country, including the assassination attempts on president-elect Donald Trump. Boyle said he believed “The scariest day in Congress was January 6 … and now we need to worry about the next January 6 in 2025, when there will be this opportunity again.”
Both congressmen recounted their own memories of January 6, as Boyle recalled “grabbing a pair of scissors, knowing that was going to be [his] weapon,” and Fallon told a humorous story about how “it was [his] third day of Congress and [he] was walking around with a club in [his] hand.”
Both congressmen spoke on the dangers of “false information” and groups like QAnon as well as the violence in the George Floyd riots of 2020. Specifically, Fallon stated, “We have to reject political violence wholeheartedly … whether it is January 6, which I was never a fan of, or the George Floyd riots in the summer of 2020. You can [protest] peacefully, and it is not peaceful to burn down police stations and kill 25 people.”
In response to one of the concluding questions, Fallon mentioned the recent Rover presidential poll that found Notre Dame students supported president-elect Donald Trump in this presidential election: “I saw a poll about the Notre Dame students’ choice for president, and I love the fact that it was almost 50-50. Because that’s diversity of thought and that’s the most important thing you can have.”
Raymond Webber is a freshman philosophy and political science major. His favorite hobby is pondering philosophical questions on long walks. Contact him at rwebber2@nd.edu.
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
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