House GOP’s old bull prepares for his toughest rodeo yet

In a House GOP that's consistently dominated by Donald Trump’s MAGA mentality, Tom Cole stands out as a throwback to the days of cross-aisle dealmaking on Capitol Hill.

He’s supported billions of dollars in earmarks that other conservatives loathe. His media-friendly persona epitomizes an era of GOP politics that Trump acolytes associate with “the swamp.” And he’s one of the few Republicans who Democrats say they enjoy working with.

Now, the Oklahoma Republican's old-school tendencies will be tested by his self-described “dream come true,” the chairship of the House Appropriations Committee that he claimed last week. Cole, 74, is about to hold vast sway over the federal purse from a perch that was once among Congress’ most coveted — before hardliners legislating in Trump’s mold turned government spending into a battleground for culture-war fights and shutdown threats.

For the moment, Cole is striking a delicate balance between working alongside Democrats and hearing out conservatives who want fiscal warfare. His move to lead federal spending talks this year will test that talent for getting along with everyone, however.

“There's got to be broader agreement inside the Republican conference to do this thing. And that's difficult,” Cole said. “And there's got to be a recognition that there's a Democratic Senate and Democratic president. It’s going to be a give and take, a bipartisan compromise.”

House Republicans continue to struggle for fiscal unity as their right flank presses for maximum leverage. Add in a presidential election just weeks after the start of a new fiscal year, and Cole looks highly unlikely to be able to steer funding bills to passage by the Sept. 30 deadline.

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), Cole's former counterpart atop the Rules Committee, has watched the Oklahoma Republican manage the demands of House hardliners who've recently pushed to derail several of GOP leaders' most high-priority bills. "Tom Cole understands the importance of compromise and being reasonable,” McGovern said.

“He's gonna have to deal with the Chock full o’Nuts caucus and their crazy demands, wanting to gut every program in this country that helps anybody,” McGovern added, predicting that “he'll help steer us back to a place where hopefully we can get some stuff done, we don't have a government shutdown, and rationality and reason will prevail.”

Cole’s biggest iceberg ahead lies within his own party, which tapped him for Appropriations chair after he ran unopposed. Still, he has already shown a willingness to move to the right. He shocked some more moderate Republicans by voting to challenge the former president's loss in 2020 and, more recently, by moving to yank Democrat-led earmarks for several LGBTQ+ programs from a spending bill he helped write.

In a Trumpified GOP that’s seen many throwback legislators call it quits rather than herd the cats of the House Republican Conference, Cole stands out simply for sticking around. But that’s not all: He’s the first Appropriations chair from Oklahoma and the longest-serving Native American in Congress, as a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation. He also leapfrogged longer-serving Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.) for the chairship after Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas) stepped down early, following a deal that ended months of intraparty spending fights.

Cole credits his mother, the first Native American elected to the Oklahoma state Senate in the late 1970s, with modeling three keys to successful political leadership: “No. 1, to be patient,” he said. “No. 2, to be direct and practical. And No. 3, to work across the aisle.”

He brings new meaning to the idea of smoky backroom deals: Cole prefers Ashton Churchill cigars, although he enjoys Montecristo White Label too, as he lights up in his Capitol office. He’s known to enjoy a tipple with his congressional colleagues as well.

Despite his charisma and aptitude, his job comes with built-in skepticism from his party’s ascendant right flank.

“Mr. Cole has always been nice to me,” said Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), who voted to boot former Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from the speakership, in part for negotiating a massive two-year budget deal with President Joe Biden. “I have a lot of problems with [the appropriations] committee.”

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), one of Trump’s top surrogates, said his “issues with the appropriations process stem a lot deeper than whoever the chair of appropriations is.”

The most conservative of the House Appropriations Committee’s subcommittee chairs is not gushing about the panel’s new leader or his institutionalist reputation. “He knows how the appropriations process works right now,” said Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), like Donalds a member of the conservative Freedom Caucus. “But again, some of us think it isn't working right now.”

They have plenty of problems with his Rules Committee too — at least on the floor. Republican fiscal hawks tanked many of the rules packages Cole’s panel produced in recent months. But notably, none were defeated in committee on his watch, perhaps a glimmer of hope that Cole can wrangle his party to start voting for spending bills again. (The next one is due at the end of September.)

“He’s got an art form that is from a different era — but is even more important in this era,” said Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), who knows the challenges of leading the House Republican conference after his 22-day stint as acting speaker last fall. “He knows what conservatives want. He knows how to work with Democrats. He knows what is the art of the possible in divided government.”

With a PhD in history and a prolific public reading log, Cole attributes his political instincts to knowing precedent. As he put it in a brief interview: “History is your best education.”

Given the unlikelihood of any spending deal before the presidential election, Cole’s sway within the party largely won’t be tested for a few months beyond preventing a shutdown this fall. But his state is already feeling the impact of his elevation.

Oklahoma Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell, speaking from an industry conference in Colorado Springs last week, said he had 10 meetings over two days with aerospace companies he’s courting to move to his home state or invest there.

“And in all 10 meetings,” the lieutenant governor said, “we have told them about the new appropriations chair from the state of Oklahoma, if that tells you anything.”