CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
Sept. 12, 2011 – 11:03 p.m.
House GOP Takes Measured Approach to President's Plan
By Richard E. Cohen, CQ Staff
As they weigh their response to President Obama’s jobs plan, House Republicans are struggling to adopt a more conciliatory tone toward the White House without betraying their drive to reduce federal spending and combat higher taxes.
For now, Obama has shifted the country’s legislative agenda from deficit reduction to job creation. That has placed Republicans somewhat on the political defensive.
In a legislative sense, Obama’s $447 billion jobs plan raises more questions than it answers for how the House Republican majority should handle an initiative that was prompted by a persistent 9.1 percent unemployment rate and historic levels of unhappiness with Congress.
It is unclear how quickly House leaders will act on Obama’s plan, or whether congressional committees will hold hearings and draft their own proposals. It is even uncertain whether leaders will allow the House to vote on Obama’s comprehensive proposal or push it through in pieces. Moreover, the role of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction in dealing with the jobs package has not been determined.
Party leaders and strategists said it is premature to have a game plan, let alone to discuss it publicly. Obama announced his plan in a Sept. 8 speech to a joint session of Congress, and Republican leaders have barely begun internal discussions about their response. The measured posture represents a remarkable contrast to the often quick and sharp opposition from GOP leaders to earlier administration proposals.
The review by Republicans is likely to accelerate, as Obama released the details of his proposal Monday afternoon. The House Republican Conference is scheduled to discuss the plan at its regular Tuesday morning meeting.
House leaders also bought some time to react to the jobs plan by sending it to the Congressional Budget Office for an estimate of its price tag. “It’s hard for us to act without a sense of the cost,” said a House GOP leadership aide.
Obama Sells Plan to Voters
Obama’s public approval ratings are low, but those of congressional Republicans are lower, and that has allowed the president to try to make his case in places uncomfortably close to home for House GOP leaders.
It seems to be no coincidence, for example, that Obama traveled to Richmond, Va. — the home of Majority Leader
Likewise, in his speech to Congress, Obama delivered — albeit indirectly — a pointed challenge to Boehner and Senate Minority Leader
“There’s a bridge that needs repair between Ohio and Kentucky that’s on one of the busiest trucking routes in North America,” Obama said.
In using his bully pulpit, the president has caused a shift in the House majority’s confrontational rhetoric.
House GOP Takes Measured Approach to President's Plan
Republican leaders have conceded that Congress must be more responsive to the hostile public mood — especially following this summer’s bitter debate over an increase in the Treasury’s borrowing authority and the threat of a default by the government.
“The American people want to see results,” Cantor said Monday. “Why don’t we sit down and talk? We have had enough of this posturing.”
In a notably conciliatory letter to Obama on Sept. 6, Boehner and Cantor wrote, “While it is important that we continue to debate and discuss our different approaches to job creation, it is also critical that our differences not preclude us from taking action in areas where there is common agreement. We should not approach this as an all-or-nothing situation.”
Looking to the Senate
In what seems reminiscent of the “compassionate conservative” voice that initially proved successful for President George W. Bush, Republican leaders contend they are not backing away from their policy agenda, a move that would risk major backlash from the tea party movement and its allies inside and outside Congress.
That helps explain why the two House GOP leaders — both of whom have emphasized their conservative credentials — have sought to build the loyalty of the large freshman class.
For example, they tapped Rep.
House Republicans also are eager to highlight that many of their economic measures have stalled in the Democratic Senate. Senate Democrats have applauded Obama’s jobs initiatives but have been slow to signal their own legislative plans.
Senate Republicans have their own divisions about how to handle Obama’s proposal.
But other Republican senators, such as
“What we ought to be focused on is what will work. That’s what we are focused on. That’s why it’s not a blanket acceptance or rejection,” Burr said.
Alan K. Ota contributed to this story.