CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
Corrected March 2, 2012 – 7:08 p.m.
GOP Hopeful After Obama Meeting
By David Harrison, CQ Staff
Republican leaders say an unusually cordial meeting with President Obama has left them confident the House and the Senate will agree on a package of bills intended to create jobs by relaxing financial regulations on small businesses.
GOP leaders were buoyed by a luncheon at the White House on Wednesday with Obama, Vice President
But while the House is likely to pass the legislation incorporating proposals that have drawn bipartisan support, Senate action on the package could be another matter. Majority Leader
Standing next to Boehner during an afternoon news conference, Senate Minority Leader
House Republican leaders announced their package Feb. 28 and plan to move it through the House as a single bill next week. Members will be permitted to offer amendments, but a leadership aide said no significant changes are anticipated. “This adds more pressure on Reid so he can’t ignore us,” the aide said.
White House spokesman Jay Carney added to that pressure Wednesday by calling the House GOP proposal “a perfect example of an area where we can find common ground.”
Reid reacted warily. He refused to comment on the White House meeting, saying only: “It was a private conversation.”
But a senior Senate Democratic aide said there appears to be much common ground with the House on bills to aid small business. Aides said a package of about four bills is being assembled by Senate Democrats in conjunction with a hearing next week in the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.
“The bills cover some of the same issues. But there are differences in how they address them,” the aide said.
Bipartisan Theme
After House GOP leaders were forced to capitulate last month on a payroll tax extension without offsets (PL 112-96), as well as the collapse of Boehner’s five-year surface transportation bill (
House Democrats dismissed the Republican legislation, saying it offers nothing new. The bills “do not constitute a comprehensive jobs agenda,” said a House Democratic aide.
But Democrats in both chambers were out of step with the bipartisan message the White House and the Republicans were offering. “We do not buy the conventional wisdom that suggests that nothing can be done in an election year between a president of one party and Congress controlled largely by the other,” Carney said. The Republican proposals “raised the hope of further bipartisan cooperation, and this president would certainly welcome that,” he added.
GOP Hopeful After Obama Meeting
Wednesday’s luncheon was Obama’s first joint meeting with Reid, McConnell, Boehner and House Minority Leader
By all accounts, Wednesday’s session was far more cordial. Boehner and McConnell appeared relaxed as they briefed reporters, and Carney suggested that Obama will continue speaking with Republican leaders in the weeks ahead.
The new tone could be a sign that both Obama and congressional Republicans believe it is in their interests to show voters they can set aside partisan differences for the good of the country. And both the White House and House members are looking for ways to claim credit for an improving economy.
“Every member of the House of Representatives who’s running for re-election will have to justify to his or her constituents their actions during this Congress,” Carney said. “And if the only thing they have to offer is that ‘I blocked everything I could that President Obama proposed,’ maybe that will work in some districts, but I think in some it won’t be a particularly compelling reason to send that member back to Washington. So perhaps that is why there is hope that actions can be taken.”
The House has passed three of the six bills in the Republican package with bipartisan votes. One measure (
A third (
A fourth bill (
One of the two other bills (
The sixth bill (
Energy a Different Story
Republican leaders said they also discussed with Obama and Biden ways to reduce energy prices. The proposed Keystone XL pipeline, a top GOP priority, came up. Obama rejected the project in January, but Republicans have not abandoned hope of seeing the pipeline built, saying it would create jobs and increase energy security.
“There are storm clouds that are gathering,” Boehner said, referring to rising gasoline prices and their dampening effect on the recovery.
Carney shot down any suggestion that the White House and Republicans are moving closer on energy policy. While Obama continues to support an “all of the above” policy including domestic oil and gas production, renewable energy and nuclear power, Carney said he has ruled out new discussion of the pipeline.
GOP Hopeful After Obama Meeting
“Calls to approve Keystone XL right away, again, are insulting to the American people because there is no permit to approve, there is no pipeline route to review,” he said.
Richard E. Cohen and Alan K. Ota contributed to this story.
First posted Feb. 29, 2012 10:26 p.m.
Correction
Corrects to say HR 2167 was approved by the Financial Services Committee in October, but has not been passed by the House.