First Date: Well Played

He’s small-city Midwest; she’s big-city East and West Coast.

He’s Joe Camel; she banned smoking. 

He’s German Catholic; she’s Italian. He likes neat; she likes alliteration. 

Are these the makings of a second date? 

No one knows, but House Republican leader John A. Boehner and Speaker Nancy Pelosi are still talking after helping to write and jam through Congress the $168 billion economic stimulus bill soon to be signed by President Bush. 

“She stuck to her word, and we worked together through the whole thing,” says Boehner. 

As the two leaders prepare to meet again this week, the big question is this: Can they build on that experience to find middle ground on other issues? 

If immigration reform is dead, can Congress at least act on needed visas for low-skilled guest workers or call a truce on pre-election deportations? Will the posturing over earmarks stop long enough to allow agreement on some tighter cap for pork-barrel spending? Can more be done on a shared innovation agenda or energy? 

Most intriguing and the biggest long shot: Would Republicans give ground on health insurance for children in return for Democrats accepting new risk-pooling arrangements for small employers? 

A bipartisan bloc of senators on the Senate Labor and Finance committees has been holding talks privately on the small-business element. If this were combined with agreement on the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, it would be “a marriage made in heaven,” said one Senate aide. 

To be sure, Washington’s not heaven; the conventional wisdom says don’t expect too much. The stars were aligned for the stimulus bill, and the president’s budget last week was a blunt reminder of his own election-year divisions with Democrats. 

“There are some possibilities, but a lot of it depends on the White House,” says Pelosi, uncertain how far Boehner can move toward her without Bush. “The president isn’t going to sign SCHIP.” 

Then again, Washington’s wisdom has been tossed on its ear already in the presidential campaigns, and where does it say in the Constitution that Congress must always be in a rut? The stimulus package was written without the presidential candidates; when so many Americans think the country is on the wrong track, do the old political models still apply? 

“Voters want answers, not why the other side is wrong,” says David Winston, a Republican pollster. And Boehner is convinced that Congress’ low ratings are hurting his own party’s hopes of recovery. 

“Unless we prime the pump and are able to show we can do things on a bipartisan basis,” he says, “people won’t hear a word we have to say.” 

Boehner, like Pelosi, is cautious about committing to any election-year trade-off between health care for children and small business. But a bigger national debate is coming: “I think it’s time for a comprehensive overhaul of health care,” he says. 

Just the dialogue itself, after a year of only episodic meetings, is important. Prior to Christmas, Boehner was using Rep. David Hobson (R-Ohio) to carry messages to the speaker’s camp. Now, Hobson says, “It’s better for them to be talking to each other. ... It’s important to understand the dynamics that are going on. They can look each other in the eye.” 

“When you’re doing real business, that’s when they’re best,” says House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-Calif.), whose close ties to the speaker and Boehner have already had an impact on the relationship. “They are the first leaders I have worked with who will not only tell you yes, which is easy in politics, but are fully prepared to say no.” 

For Pelosi — with her higher pofile and more diverse caucus — the risks may be greater, as seen in the stimulus deal. 

The speaker drove a bargain that delivered refundable tax credits — and a more generous break for children — but lost in the House process were extended unemployment benefits for labor allies. This infuriated House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), and when Pelosi pressed for quick Senate approval of the House deal, it won Boehner’s respect but aggravated relations with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). 

Both her camp and Boehner say she never strategized directly with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) — Reid’s foe. But this was a common accusation in the Senate against the speaker, and Reid was still bristly after the bill’s passage.

Rangel described himself as “very disappointed.” “But,” he acknowledged, “when you’re the one who has to cut the deal, it can be different.” To help mend fences, the speaker invited Rangel to deliver the Democratic radio address Saturday, and he used the opportunity to make a renewed pitch for unemployment benefits.

But even this was not without incident: Rangel complained to colleagues of being urged by the speaker’s office to tone down some of his remarks.

That said, Pelosi, the first female speaker, is not averse to risk and has been underestimated repeatedly by her often male critics. “Never say ‘afraid’ around me,” she laughs, walking through the Capitol. When a reporter allows that his editors felt her Democrats were flailing about last fall, to the advantage of the White House, she responds with motherly amusement.

“Poor babies, they think like Bush, don’t they?” she says. “Let them continue to think that way. Let them think this is a victory for Bush. That would be good.”

The Pelosi-Boehner dialogue is helped by Miller, a fellow Californian who is her strong right arm but also knows the Republican leader from their days together on the Education and Labor panel. These relationships extend to their respective staffs. John Lawrence, Pelosi’s chief of staff, served Miller previously and is respected by Boehner; Lawrence has a good working relationship with Paula Nowakowski, Boehner’s chief of staff and a veteran of the Education and Labor Committee.

“He’s conservative, but he’s not an ardent ideologue; he doesn’t have the entire conservative agenda in front of him every time he takes up a piece of legislation,” Lawrence says of Boehner. “He doesn’t like a lot of complexity. He likes to cut to the chase. He doesn’t like a lot of dancing around, and he sticks to his word.”
Boehner exudes confidence these days. He says his relationship with the White House couldn’t be any better or “more honest.” He credits himself with knowing how to listen — and with holding his cards when others wanted to give up more in the stimulus debate.

Nonetheless, Boehner’s laid-back style makes him a target for rival Republicans, and he walks his own tightrope. Early last year, Boehner counseled Republicans to let Pelosi enjoy her first weeks as speaker, even as forces aligned with Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the chief deputy whip, took a more aggressive — and obstructive — stance.

After Democrats miscounted a vote last summer, Boehner was hurt when he tempered his anger on the floor, allowing his second-in-command and old rival, Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), to steal the show with conservatives.

But Boehner ended 2007 on stronger footing. Even prior to the stimulus deal, he was credited with helping to guide the White House through the year-end budget battle over domestic spending. Cantor says no Republican has objected to the principle of having Boehner negotiate with Pelosi. Rep. Adam Putnam (R-Fla.) who chairs the House Republican conference, echoes Boehner’s argument that the poor image of Congress is hurting both parties.

“It was not a healthy thing when the two leaders weren’t speaking,” Putnam says. Consider the tonal shift in Putnam’s own joint “Congress Debates” project with Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), a top political strategist for House Democrats and chairman of the party’s caucus: “Bipartisan Debates Will Focus on Important Issues Facing the Country,” reads the headline.

“I look forward to the battle of ideas, not insults,” Emanuel said.