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Who Is that Masked Man?

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Congressman Jeb Hensarling (left) tours border patrol operations.

Congressman Jeb Hensarling (left) tours border patrol operations.

“Riding herd on cronyists who give capitalism a bad name by giving or taking special government favors” is what Texas Rep. Jeb Hensarling does best. Mr. Hensarling has spent the last decade trying to stop cronyism in government programs that grease the palms of well-connected business elites. With K Street lobbyists about to put enormous pressure on Republicans, will the Lone Ranger of D.C. be able to get other members of Congress to join his posse?, asks the WSJ’s Kimberley Strassel here.

Texas gave America the Lone Ranger, and then—because it is a generous sort of place—in 2002 it gave the country an updated version of him: Rep. Jeb Hensarling. The Republican has spent a decade riding herd on cronyists who give capitalism a bad name by giving or taking special government favors. With the coming dawn of a Republican Congress, we’re about to see if the rest of the GOP sees the wisdom of joining Mr. Hensarling’s posse.

Washington’s Lone Ranger was at it again this week in the fight over reauthorizing the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program, a “temporary” program created in 2002 that requires taxpayers to absorb the costs of insurance payouts after an attack. Mr. Hensarling earlier this year set his sights on the program and methodically elevated the subject of its industry payoffs into a Washington hot topic, causing one unnamed industry lobbyist in October to gripe about the reauthorization delay: “If Jeb Hensarling were not in Congress, a bill would have passed with enormous support.” The Texan didn’t get all the reforms he wanted in the reauthorization bill that did pass this week, but he got some. And he made his point.

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Debbie Young

Debbie, editor-in-chief of Richardcyoung.com, has been associate editor of Dick Young’s investment strategy reports for over three decades. When not in Key West, Debbie spends her free time researching and writing in and about Paris and Burgundy, France, cooking on her AGA Cooker, and practicing yoga.