GOP Unity Headed Off at the Impasse

And in both cases, the appropriators seem to have the upper hand.

"It looks as if the appropriators won," complained Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) as Republicans gathered in Longworth to work out their differences. "The earmark factory survives. The appropriators are running the show." Flake, a fiscal conservative, was fuming. "You have one of your members in jail, others being investigated. To still take a position that we don't need reform -- it's unbelievable."

Rep. Chris Shays (R-Conn.), a moderate, was equally furious, calling the Republican package "shameful" and "pathetic." GOP leaders "don't get it," he said. "They are totally clueless when it comes to the issue of reform."

Inside the room, Dreier, Majority Leader John Boehner and Majority Whip Roy Blunt were slumped silently in chairs, looking as if they'd just lost a favorite uncle. Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-N.Y.), the man in charge of House Republicans' reelection campaign, whistled past the graveyard. "I'm never concerned," he told reporters.

Everybody else was. After a long meeting, the Republicans filed out with no solution.

"I don't know," said Rep. Mike Simpson (Idaho) with a shrug.

"I'm not going to talk to you about it," said Rep. Sue Myrick (N.C.).

Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas (Calif.) brushed off questions with a parting-the-seas gesture. Boehner ignored dozens of reporters' queries and lighted a cigarette.

Reporters followed House Speaker Denny Hastert (Ill.) to a Capitol Hill gas station for a news conference about gas prices. "Can you tell us how you resolved the lobbying impasse?" a reporter asked.

Hastert laughed. "I wish I could," he said.