Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jlallen who wrote (116128)	12/14/2000 5:25:34 PM
From: Mr. Whist	Respond to of 769667

President-Elect Bush Faces Tough Road in Congress Thursday December 14 4:28 PM ET By John Whitesides WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Despite congressional pledges of bipartisanship and political goodwill on Thursday, President-elect George W. Bush faces a rough road in trying to push his legislative agenda through a deeply divided Congress. Bush, who has barely a month to put together his administration before he assumes office on Jan. 20, must walk a tightrope between conservative Republicans anxious to make their mark on public policy and Democrats aggrieved by his victory in the five-week, post-election struggle in Florida. Congressional leaders in both parties promised to work together in bipartisan harmony, even as they seemed to agree that Bush's narrow victory and the almost even split in Congress will require a go-slow, bridge-building approach. No matter what hopes Bush might have harbored for his sweeping $1.3 trillion tax cut, and his Social Security and Medicare reform plans, he will need to aim first for smaller, achievable victories as part of his stated goal of finding ''common ground.'' ``What Bush wants more than anything is some early bill-signing ceremonies at the White House,'' said Marshall Wittmann, a congressional analyst at the conservative Hudson Institute who described Bush's likely approach as ``modest incrementalism.'' ``He needs to score some modest victories and build momentum,'' Wittmann said of Bush. ``He wants to be giving away some signing pens to some senators.'' Forced Bipartisanship Democratic leaders Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota and Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri told reporters on Thursday that the divided Congress -- the Senate is split 50-50 and the Republicans hold a five-seat margin in the 435-member House of Representatives -- would force bipartisanship on both parties. They said the Democratic agenda of health care reform, prescription-drug coverage for seniors under Medicare, campaign finance reform and a raise in the minimum wage would remain the same, but refused to rule out acceptance of any potential Republican proposals. ``I think there's a long list of things that we were unable to do in this last Congress that obviously could have been done, and I think can be done in the next Congress,'' Gephardt said. Added Daschle, ``Let's take the issues for which there was already a bipartisan majority in the 106th Congress. Let's work on those. Let's put those at the top of the list. Let's pass them and let's move on.'' But in making deals with Democrats, Bush will run the risk of alienating Republican conservatives like Tom DeLay of Texas, the third-ranking House Republican who has made it clear he believes Republican control of Congress and the White House for the first time in four decades is a perfect opportunity to push a conservative legislative agenda. DeLay made his presence felt again on Thursday, releasing a statement shortly after the news conference by Gephardt and Daschle saying their comments were a ``heartening'' sign the Democratic leadership might ``put aside its strategy of gridlock and negativity in order to work with President Bush and us.'' Wittmann said DeLay, knowing Bush must succeed for Republicans to keep congressional power in 2002, ultimately would be forced to accept compromise with Democrats. ``He knows that if Bush fails he may be minority whip, not majority whip,'' Wittmann said. Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois told reporters ``we're starting out fresh, the election is behind us, certainly the race for control of the House of Representatives is behind us for a while.'' Estate And Marriage Taxes Likely First Items But while Bush made his sweeping tax-cut plan the centerpiece of his campaign, Hastert said separate items -- such as elimination of the estate tax and marriage tax penalty passed by the Republican-led Congress this year but vetoed by President Clinton -- would be more likely to be taken up first. ``I think we're most successful especially in tax policy when we take tax ideas and do them a piece at a time. When you tie up a whole pile of tax cuts and try to do them together it's really hard to define how they affect people,'' Hastert said. He said he had not worked out his tax cut approach, but ``the first piece will be incremental.'' The first Bush proposal before the new Congress is likely to focus on education. With Bush desperate to attract Democrats for an early win, however, he might need to leave school voucher plans out of any education package. Republican congressional leaders also will be anxious to postpone what is certain to be a bloody battle over the campaign finance reform plan proposed by Arizona Sen. John McCain, a Republican, and Wisconsin Sen. Russell Feingold, a Democrat. ``Some areas are going to be easier to find bipartisan ground on than others. I think national security may be one. I hope that education reform will be another,'' Democratic Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, back in the Senate for the first day of work since losing his vice presidential bid, told reporters. ``And some of this will be difficult, like campaign finance reform. But there I think we'll just have a good-natured, I hope, fight,'' Lieberman said.