Bush Gets Big Win, Loss as Congress Nears End
By Thomas Ferraro
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress headed home for the holidays on Tuesday after handing President Bush (news - web sites) a victory on health care, a defeat on energy and uncertainty about funding for much of the government.
Reuters Photo
A 54-44 Senate vote put a final stamp of approval on a Medicare prescription drug bill. It capped a series of wins Bush had this year in Congress -- from more tax relief to obtaining funds to rebuild Iraq (news - web sites) to a law to restrict abortion.
Bush hopes this record helps him and fellow Republicans keep control of the White House and Congress in next November's election. But Democrat contend much of it could generate a backlash from voters.
"What's important to me is we delivered with action, with solutions to problems," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, declared as he stood before an end-of-year chart listing what he called "a whole stream of accomplishments."
But Bush's triumph in overhauling the Medicare health insurance program for the elderly was tempered by the death until at least next year of a $31 billion energy bill, much of which would fund industry tax breaks.
A final effort to reach a compromise this year on what would be the first comprehensive national energy bill in a decade fell short on Monday.
Congress also failed to meet a basic responsibility when it could not send Bush a final catch-all spending bill to fund numerous federal agencies.
Until lawmakers do so -- perhaps not until next month or early next year -- these agencies must rely on a stopgap funding measure.
CONGRESS 'OFF TRACK'
"The 108th Congress is now half over and it is clear it's seriously off track," scoffed Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat. "The economy is in trouble. Nine million Americans are out of work. The budget deficit is out of control."
Many senators began packing up after passing the Medicare bill and might not return until the second year of the 108th Congress begins in January.
Most members of the House of Representatives left last week, although the chamber held a session on Tuesday and some members may be back briefly next month.
Departing lawmakers offered contrasting assessments.
Republicans accused Democrats of catering to liberal special interest groups and obstructionism, particularly in blocking six of Bush's most conservative judicial nominees.
Democrats countered that Republicans have pushed a right-wing agenda that favors the rich, shortchanges the needy and puts the environment at risk.
Bush and his fellow Republicans will run for re-election next year on many of the president's victories on Capitol Hill, particularly the Medicare overhaul.
While Republicans hope elderly Americans rally to their side in appreciation of the new prescription drug benefit, Democrats predict an angry backlash.
"Seniors will demand that we respond to the many deficiencies in this bill," said Daschle, complaining the measure would help industry more than the elderly.
Just hours after the Senate passed the Medicare bill, Democrats readied a measure of their own to repeal a number of what they see as troublesome provisions.
Senate Democrats and Republicans did find some common ground on Tuesday. On a voice vote they approved a measure that would outlaw the most annoying forms of junk e-mail and create a "do not spam" registry, bringing the first national anti-spam law one step closer to reality.
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