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politics and politicians Title: Republican Intentions in Congress May Exceed Ability to Cut Obama Programs Jan. 5 (Bloomberg) -- As Republican lawmakers move to challenge President Barack Obama on topics as varied as health care and federal spending, they will have to overcome divisions within their own party as well as Democratic opposition. Republicans take control of the House today for the first time in four years, with plans to vote on a repeal of the health-care overhaul and to approve $100 billion in spending cuts -- both among measures intended to fulfill campaign pledges they made before their November victory. Those moves will likely be blocked by the Democratic- controlled Senate. On top of that, public opinion may stand in the way, with polls showing that voters trust Obama more than they do congressional Republicans to deal with the country’s biggest problems. And the spending reductions would require slashing popular education, law enforcement and transportation programs. “There is more that can backfire than there are bull’s- eyes in this world,” said Stephen Hess, a political analyst at the Brookings Institution in Washington. For incoming House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, the tension within his own party will add to the obstacles posed by the Democrats. Many Republican freshmen are coming into office with the support of the Tea Party movement, which vowed to wage war on big government, and they are pressing the party leadership to make fundamental changes. Past Mistakes Other Republicans warn of repeating the mistakes of 1994, when the party took power with a broad agenda. Republicans wouldn’t compromise on the budget with President Bill Clinton, leading to a government shutdown that voters blamed on them. “The lesson of 1994 is take smaller bites that are achievable versus lofty goals,” said Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina, who was first elected to the House that year. Boehner, 61, and other Republican leaders have adopted a restrained tone, avoiding the pomp and posturing that typically accompany a power change on Capitol Hill. “We know very clearly that that election was a repudiation of what had gone on in this town, it wasn’t necessarily an election about us,” incoming House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia told reporters yesterday, referring to the 2010 vote. Boehner, who was ousted from the party leadership in 1998 after Republicans lost seats in the midterm elections that year, today will usher in his new role with a bipartisan prayer service at St. Peter’s Catholic Church that 10 of his 11 siblings will attend. He plans to skip an evening celebration at the W Hotel featuring a performance by country music star LeAnn Rimes. Symbolic Measures “He understands this is about policy and issues,” said David Winston, a former aide to onetime House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Georgia Republican. “That’s the focus of where the majority is going and not necessarily about individuals.” House leaders will focus the first weeks of the new session on measures more symbolic than substantial. Tomorrow they are expected to vote on a bill that would cut 5 percent from the budgets of members’ offices, committees and leadership staff. That would save $35 million from a federal budget that exceeds $3.5 trillion. On Jan. 12, they will hold a vote on repealing Obama’s health-care plan, a move that Senate Democrats have pledged to block. That vote is “nothing but political theater,” Representative Rosa DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat, told reporters. After considering the repeal measure, Republicans plan piecemeal attacks on the health-care law with attempts to remove funding from parts of the overhaul, conduct hearings to question administration officials, and encourage court cases brought by states. Spending Cuts As party leaders try to ease into their new power, many of their top lieutenants are laying out plans to take on the Obama administration. Some are planning a “rescission” package that will attempt to claw back unspent money approved by the last Congress, including funds from the stimulus plan. “We need to do a rescission package and fast,” Representative Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican, said in an interview. “And then cut, cut cut.” Overall, Republicans plan to offer one spending cut a week, Cantor told reporters yesterday. “Everything’s got to be on the table,” he said. Still, curbing government programs presents a “minefield,” said Allen Schick, a University of Maryland professor of public policy. “As much as Americans want smaller government, they still want bigger government programs,” especially when it comes to education, roads and other projects, Schick said. Highway Funds House Republicans also want to change the way highway funds are distributed, giving the Appropriations Committee the right to halt spending for repairs and construction. The rule is meant to keep the Highway Trust Fund from spending more than it brings in, Brendan Buck, a spokesman for the Republicans who proposed the change, said in an e-mail. Some federal programs will come under scrutiny by Representative Darrell Issa of California, the new chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. He has outlined six areas for potential investigations, including administration policies on food safety, housing and Afghanistan, said spokesman Kurt Bardella. And the new chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Fred Upton of Michigan, has signaled that he will try to block Environmental Protection Agency rules regulating greenhouse gases. Obama Hopeful Obama said yesterday that he hopes to work with the Republican House majority. “My hope is that John Boehner and Mitch McConnell will realize that there’ll be plenty of time to campaign for 2012 in 2012 and that our job this year is to make sure that we build on the recovery,” he told reporters on Air Force One as he returned from Honolulu to Washington. McConnell, of Kentucky, is the Republican leader in the Senate Some of the president’s fellow Democrats dismiss many of the changes Republicans are promising, saying they will be impossible to achieve with Obama’s party controlling the Senate. “We got punished politically for doing things that were unpopular; I think they’re going to have trouble because they promised things that were impossible,” said Representative Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat. “Reality is going to bite them in the butt.” Intra-Party Dispute Trouble within the Republican Party started before this session even began, when Tea Party-affiliated lawmakers opposed a tax deal negotiated by Republican leaders. They also criticized the leadership’s picks for the heads of the Appropriations Committee and the Energy and Commerce Committee. To satisfy those members, the caucus is expected to approve rules that acknowledge Tea Party priorities. House members won’t be able to introduce a bill without citing the power granted in the Constitution to enact it, and all bills will be available online for three days before a vote. Those measures are unlikely to satisfy some lawmakers who promised voters that they would slash spending. “We’re very much on probation; we just happen to look at little bit better than the other side,” said Flake. “If we don’t make good on our promises, we’ll suffer the same fate.”
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