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

To: Thomas A Watson who wrote (159043)	7/8/2001 7:18:26 PM
From: calgal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Tougher Battles Looming for Bush President Faces Even GOP Skeptics By Juliet Eilperin Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, July 8, 2001; Page A01 President Bush, who dominated the agenda on Capitol Hill during the early months of his administration, is facing increased resistance to his policies as Congress returns from its Fourth of July recess, not only from newly empowered Senate Democrats, but also from an emboldened group of Republican moderates in the House. With the House this week planning to take up campaign finance legislation that passed the Senate despite Bush's reservations, and to follow that with consideration of a bill extending new rights to Americans in managed-care health plans, GOP leaders and rank-and-file members say the president's skills at persuasion will be tested. Administration officials say Bush plans to press ahead with his priorities, including completion of education legislation by a House-Senate conference committee and his proposals on energy, trade and federal support for religious charities. Republicans say the president will have to do a better job at selling his proposals -- and demonstrate a greater willingness to compromise -- if he wants to regain his footing with Congress. Senior House Republicans said the president and his top deputies need to increase their engagement with lawmakers, asserting that Bush officials failed to lobby rank-and-file members last month when the House cast several votes undercutting the administration's energy policy. "The White House has some work to do, that's clear," said John Feehery, spokesman for House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.). GOP moderates said the president's relations with Capitol Hill are entering a new phase that will require more give-and-take between the White House and congressional Republicans. "You're seeing a maturing of the relationship," said Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.). "We have to see some evidence that they're not only hearing our message, they're heeding it." The problems confronting Bush are twofold. In the Senate, the Democratic majority has used its new authority to pursue a far different agenda than the president's. This was vividly demonstrated last month when the Senate overwhelmingly passed a Democratic-backed patients' rights bill that gives Americans far broader powers to sue their health maintenance organizations than Bush has said he can support. Nine Republicans backed the bill. In the House, a series of votes shortly before the recess in which dozens of Republicans broke with the administration on the environment and trade provided the first cracks in what had been a largely unified GOP front in the chamber. With the 2002 election drawing nearer, many Republicans from competitive districts are worried that they could jeopardize their reelection by aligning themselves too closely with Bush's more conservative policies or by opposing Democratic proposals popular among moderate voters. As a result, House GOP leaders say, it will be difficult to maintain the uniform Republican support that characterized the president's early victories on his budget, tax cut and education proposals. White House officials say Bush plans to work on convincing GOP lawmakers that it is in their interest to show the same degree of loyalty in the months ahead as they displayed at the outset of his administration. "His personal involvement is significant and will continue to be," said White House congressional lobbyist Nicholas E. Calio. "That's not just on patients' bill of rights. It's on energy. It's on faith-based [initiatives]." Officials say the administration does not plan to launch a major offensive when the House takes up a campaign finance bill that would impose new restrictions on political donations by unions, businesses and individuals, opting instead to let House GOP leaders steer the floor debate. The leadership is backing a proposal by House Administration Committee Chairman Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio) that would limit party donations by corporations, unions and wealthy individuals to $75,000 each. Lawmakers also will consider a version of the measure that Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) successfully offered in the Senate, which bans such "soft money" donations outright. Republican leaders hope to attract the support of several black Democrats, who say the McCain-Feingold bill will undermine get-out-the-vote efforts aimed at minorities. Backers of the legislation, however, predicted that once the House begins voting this week, they will be able to maintain the bipartisan coalition in the chamber that has passed proposed changes to campaign finance laws twice in the past three years. White House officials say Bush will focus on persuading moderate Republicans to oppose a bipartisan patients' rights bill similar to that passed by the Senate. Bush will lobby for a GOP bill giving patients the right to sue their health plans only in rare instances. White House officials say they hope that if the House adopts the GOP version they can modify the more far-reaching proposals in the Senate-passed legislation during conference negotiations. "The president will remain focused on his agenda and working with Congress to enact that agenda," a senior White House official said. "He understands Congress's role and will work on areas where we can agree, and the patients' bill of rights provides one area for agreement." According to several Republicans, recent votes in the House raise questions about whether Bush can succeed in pressing his program. The House -- which passed the president's budget and tax bills without a single Republican defection in the spring -- voted last month to bar drilling off the Florida coast, prohibit drilling and oil exploration in national monuments, and prevent drilling for oil in the Great Lakes. Each vote countered the president's policy to spur domestic energy production. On a separate front, lawmakers contradicted the president's free-trade stance by voting to block Mexican trucks from hauling goods in the United States. Calio suggested that some Republicans had wrongly assumed that these were "free votes" -- meaning they believed the proposals would never become law and thus gave them a chance to score political points back home by voting for them. But GOP aides said the votes reflected the Republicans' broader electoral objectives in 2002. "It's extremely important that members represent their districts," said Terry Holt, spokesman for House Majority Leader Richard K. Armey (R-Tex.). "It's fundamental to the majority." In this regard, lawmakers say, even a more concerted presidential lobbying effort will not address some GOP members' objections to White House policies. Lawmakers are particularly worried that Bush's energy program is not environmentally sensitive. "I've never seen a stronger environmental feeling on the floor," said Rep. Mark Steven Kirk (R-Ill.), a freshman who served as a congressional staffer for several years before winning his seat last fall. Several Republicans said they were not intentionally defying the president. Instead, they said, they could not abandon long-held positions simply because their party won the White House. "It's not always going to be that easy for them," said Rep. Michael N. Castle (R-Del.). "I don't think anyone is casting votes to show their independence from the White House. I just think they're being true to their beliefs and their districts." Just before the recess, Bush invited two groups of moderate Republicans to the White House and made his case for the GOP-crafted patients' rights bill. While lawmakers said they would review the bill in deference to the president -- "We're looking at it," explained Rep. Jack Quinn (R-N.Y.) -- none left the White House declaring support. Staff writer Dana Milbank contributed to this report. © 2001 The Washington Post Company washingtonpost.com