Dueling Agendas On Capitol Hill
The Republican and Democratic leaders of the evenly split U.S. Senate spelled out their respective legislative priorities for the coming year Monday, and while there's some common ground, there are certain to be a number of battlegrounds.
Senate Republican Leader Trent Lott and Democratic Leader Tom Daschle both said they want to work with President Bush to cut taxes, upgrade schools and bolster Medicare and Social Security.
Yet Republicans and Democrats seem to be on a collision course on many aspects of these and other matters, particularly on taxes.
While Mr. Bush campaigned for a 10-year, $1.3 trillion tax cut, Daschle reiterated Monday that such relief should primarily go to the middle class, not the rich.
He also suggested that the Bush tax cut was excessive, saying, "any tax cut must be affordable and fiscally responsible."
Daschle did not say how much tax relief he would favor, but other congressional Democrats have recommended cuts of $600 billion to $700 billion.
"Our ability to achieve a strong bipartisan compromise on taxes will be the biggest test of our 50-50 Senate," Daschle said in a floor speech. "I'm confident we can pass that test."
Despite Daschle's optimism, there is plenty of doubt on how much the Senate, with 50 Republicans and 50 Democrats, can agree on and pass.
Vice President Dick Cheney will have the chamber's tie-breaking vote, but 60 votes are often needed to end debate and go to final passage.
Lott did not offer any legislation Monday, saying he first wanted to further consult with Mr. Bush and Republican leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Nevertheless, CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Bob Schieffer reports that a key GOP senator has introduced legislation to pass the Bush tax cut.
Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, said he had coordinated the move with the president and vice president, but just Sunday on Face the Nation, White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card professed to know nothing about it.
In any case, the good news for Mr. Bush was that Gramm found the first Democrat - Georgia Sen. Zell Miller - to support the plan. Miller stressed he wants to pass it all, not just a selected cut here and there.
"Who are we to play enee, meeny, miney, mo with our taxpayers?" Miller said.
Other Democrats want smaller, targeted cuts, but Gramm says he'll urge Bush to hold fast.
"What we want is an up or down vote on the whole package. So I don't see any possibility that we're going to pull it apart," Gramm said.
Mr. Bush planned to meet Tuesday with Republican and Democratic congressional leaders at the White House to discuss his pending education proposal.
The president wants to give schools more flexibility in using federal funds, provided they can demonstrate student improvement through testing.
On the campaign trail Mr. Bush also propsed that low-income parents be given taxpayer money, in the form of vouchers, to take their child out of a failing school and put them in another school - private or public.
Democrats have complained that this proposal would drain needed money from public schools. Bush aides have indicated the president will not make vouchers a priority.
Lott said another area that must be addressed soon by Congress and the White House is the nation's energy supply.
"We do not have a national energy policy. We have ignored the problem," Lott said.
Citing the recent wave of energy shortages in California, Lott asked, "How many times do we need to be shaken to wake up?"
Daschle and his Senate Democratic Caucus offered the broad outlines on what they said would be their first 11 bills of the new 107th Congress.
The measures cover a number of hot-button issues, including establishing a patients bill of rights and a prescription drug benefit and raising the minimum wage by $1.50 over two years.
Other Democratic bills would: upgrade schools and expand job training programs; reduce the influence of money in politics; protect civil rights; improve market access and competition for farmers, and increase law enforcement.
The Democratic leadership also called for creation of Social Security and Medicare "lock boxes" to protect surpluses from being used to fund other federal initiatives or tax cuts.
Mr. Bush conferred at the White House on Monday with Lott, House Policy Committee Chairman Christopher Cox of California and other members of the Republican congressional leadership about the president's legislative agenda.
"One of the most obvious signs there's a new administration in Washington is that the meeting started precisely on time," said Cox, alluding to Clinton's well-known tardiness and Bush's fondness for punctuality.
The optimistic Cox said in a statement, "Each of the leaders had an opportunity to contribute on subjects ranging from the president's education reform initiatives to his soon-to-be-enacted tax rate reductions."