washingtonpost.com
Election Will Shape Fall in Congress
Both Parties Hope for High-Profile Wins on Budget, Health Care, Energy and Iraq
By Helen Dewar and Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, September 2, 2003; Page A04
Energy, health care and Iraq -- along with the usual autumn struggles over spending -- top the agenda as the Republican-controlled Congress reconvenes this week after its summer recess, hoping for some high-profile victories to carry into next year's elections.
The mid-August power blackout gave a powerful boost to long-stalled energy legislation, and GOP leaders are ratcheting up pressure for enactment of a prescription drug benefit under Medicare. Although unease over progress in Iraq has been growing, the Bush administration appears to be addressing some concerns by seeking more money and broader international involvement.
But prospects for accord on any major issues are complicated by partisan warfare that is intensifying as the election year approaches and by policy and tactical differences between the ideologically conservative House and more bipartisan Senate.
Political tensions are already high for a non-election year, and that "makes it harder to get things done," said Rep. Rob Portman (Ohio), a senior House GOP leader. "It's not a pretty picture," said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) dismissed suggestions of partisan paralysis and predicted the session will be unusually productive, especially for a Congress run by slim majorities in both houses.
But some independent observers of Congress are less bullish. The energy and prescription drug bills face serious difficulties, the American Enterprise Institute's Norman J. Ornstein and American University professor James A. Thurber said in separate interviews. "The outlook is grim for major accomplishment," Ornstein said.
When lawmakers left for their August recess, the top priority for the rest of the year was the prescription drug initiative, which includes controversial proposals favored by Republicans to revamp Medicare by including an expanded role for private health plans. Now, after the power failure that darkened most of the Northeast and Midwest on Aug. 14, the drug measure shares top billing with a catch-all energy bill that includes provisions aimed at upgrading the nation's electricity transmission grid. Once largely ignored, the power reliability proposals are the driving force behind the legislation.
Key lawmakers have said the bill that emerges will include mandatory reliability requirements for utilities on the nation's electricity grid, along with investment incentives and a streamlining of rules for locating transmission lines. But Republicans have rejected proposals by some Democrats to pass the electricity provisions separately to avoid complications and delay. Instead, they insist on a comprehensive bill including incentives to encourage oil, gas and nuclear energy production.
The White House and House Republicans want to keep a House provision to allow drilling for oil and gas in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. But it would probably be a deal-breaker for the Senate, which has repeatedly rejected such plans.
Concern over Iraq also mounted during the August recess. With the suicide bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, continuing U.S. casualties and other signs of halting progress, "a sense of unease is spreading" among key lawmakers, a senior GOP aide said.
It is unclear whether lawmakers will be assuaged by recent signals that the administration will beef up reconstruction efforts and may seek a multinational military force. McCain, who has pressed for more troops, said last week that he is encouraged by what he hears from the administration. But Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) said he will seek legislation to keep pressure on the White House, including a requirement that it devise a plan for internationalization of the Iraq occupation.
On other issues, Congress plans to approve legislation banning what abortion critics call "partial birth" procedures and will consider several bills to limit damages from lawsuits. An agreement to increase regulation of tobacco and phase out farmers' subsidies is nearing completion.
The House has passed legislation to update the 1996 welfare overhaul, and it awaits Senate action. Democrats will push for some of their favorite initiatives, including increasing the minimum wage. And the Senate will continue fighting over judicial nominations.
Although Congress is scheduled to finish its work by early October, some GOP leaders say it may take until Thanksgiving.
Especially on energy, drugs and Iraq, the stakes are high for President Bush, as well as both parties. As he begins his reelection effort, Bush can ill afford a congressional rebellion over his handling of Iraq, and he needs to show he can do more than cut taxes in responding to voters' demands on the domestic front.
With control of both houses, especially the narrowly divided Senate, at stake in next year's elections, congressional Republicans are under pressure to show they can deliver now that they control both chambers and the White House. Democrats will vie for credit on the prescription drug and energy initiatives, but they also hope to draw distinctions on critical issues such as spending priorities.
The fall session will open with fights over federal funding. When the Senate convenes today, Democrats plan to begin pushing for major increases in school spending in the $472.2 billion appropriations bill for social services. They will also seek to overturn new administration rules on overtime pay. Shortly after the House convenes Wednesday, it will take up the issue of school vouchers in considering a funding bill for the District of Columbia. It includes $10 million to start providing low-income students with financial assistance to attend private schools.
Congress's first priority for the rest of September will be passage of its 13 appropriations bills for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1. The House has approved all but two of the bills, but the Senate has nine to go. None has been sent to Bush for his signature. Congress again will probably pass a "continuing resolution" to keep many government agencies operating until the spending bills are passed and signed into law.
But for many lawmakers, lobbyists and advocacy groups, the focus will be on negotiations to resolve differences between the bills passed earlier by the House and Senate on energy and prescription drugs.
Neither house has named energy conferees, but both plan to do so this week. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman W.J. "Billy" Tauzin (R-La.) and Sen. Jeff Bingaman (N.M.), ranking Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, say prospects are good for an eventual agreement. Tauzin wants final action by the end of September, although others say a deal is likely to take longer.
House and Senate negotiators on the Medicare drugs bill began work before the recess, but they have yet to tackle the most contentious issues, including how far to go in encouraging private-sector competition. In part because of chilly relations between House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), negotiations on the prescription drug bill have moved slowly.
Details of both the House and Senate bills, especially the limited scope of the drug benefit, have drawn a mixed public reaction. Differences between the two bills are serious but not irreconcilable, lawmakers said.
But the House passed its version of the legislation by a one-vote margin on a largely party-line vote, while the Senate built its larger majority on the basis of support from Democrats as well as Republicans. Working out a compromise without jeopardizing passage in one house or the other will not be easy, lawmakers have said.
Some, including Kennedy, say Bush will have to intervene strenuously to work out a deal that can pass both houses. "The president is going to use some of his political capital," said Rep. Deborah Pryce (Ohio), head of the House GOP conference. "He has to," she added.
© 2003 The Washington Post Company |
