Government Executive - Authors - Susan Davis

Sequester fight is on the horizon

Susan Davis — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0500

House Armed Services Chairman Buck McKeon, R-Calif., a vocal opponent to the sequester from the onset, said on Monday that he will introduce legislation in the coming days to prevent the cuts from taking effect in their current form.

"I will not be the Armed Services chairman who presides over crippling our military. I will not let these sequestration cuts stand," he said in a statement. A spokesman for McKeon did not respond to a request for comment on how McKeon specifically intends to undo the defense sequester.

According to the Budget Control Act approved in August in a compromise to raise the debt ceiling, an automatic $1.2 trillion in across-the-board cuts split evenly between defense and non-defense discretionary spending would take effect on Jan. 1, 2013.

The split was done purposefully with the intention of forcing Congress to come up with $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction on its own, which lawmakers have proved incapable of doing. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that defense spending would be reduced between 8.5 percent to 10 percent from 2013 to 2021, saving an estimated $454 billion.

The path to altering the sequester trigger is a complicated one despite widespread opposition to the defense cuts from congressional Republicans and rhetorical support from Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who has warned the cuts could inflict undue harm on the U.S military.

Senate Democrats are likely to take their cues from the White House. President Obama has previously suggested he could veto any attempt to alter the sequester rules, but now that super committee failure is a reality, the commander-in-chief could back off that threat as he faces his own re-election realities and a public second-guessing by his secretary of defense.

Already, the GOP presidential field is using the sequester to attack Obama on defense. "Our military gets the job done in life-threatening conditions every day, it's time the president and Congress get serious about cutting federal spending and balancing the federal budget," Texas GOP Gov. Rick Perry said in a statement.

Like most Democrats, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., does not support altering the sequester ratio of cuts, but a Democratic leadership aide acknowledged that if the White House did not support the defense cuts going in to effect, it would be easier to reach a 60-vote threshold to rewrite the trigger rules. If the White House stands firm in opposition to undoing the current sequester rule, then Reid will hold the line.

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., supports altering the sequester rule, but unless the White House is willing to negotiate, he will be hard-pressed to find the 60-votes he would need to rewrite current law.

In the House it would be easier for the GOP-controlled chamber to approve legislation altering the Budget Control Act, but not without some pushback. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has said he feels obligated to honor the $1.2 trillion threshold for cuts - and his party will not stand for lowering the overall cuts - but he has not been equally committed to upholding the current 50-50 ratio of cuts.

McKeon is a close ally of Boehner, and he has privately assured the chairman that he will work to that end. A number of House Democrats, including Armed Services ranking member Adam Smith, D-Wash., have voiced concerns about the defense cuts and would be amendable to renegotiating the rules.

Unless the Senate agrees to alter the law, House Republicans will be stuck with the law as is. This has given congressional Democrats some hope that they will be able to use the threat of sequester as a potential negotiating tool on the Bush tax cuts, which are set to expire right as the defense cuts will begin to take effect. Democrats would likely be willing to give on the defense cuts if Republicans were willing to negotiate on tax cuts for the wealthiest of Americans.

But that plan would take compromise, and so far this Congress has proven incapable of striking any kind of bargains, let alone grand ones. Correction: The original version of this article misstated the title of Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. The article has been updated to correct the error.

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House majority leader: Obama’s jobs bill is dead

Susan Davis — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0400

No weekend progress on funding bill as shutdown deadline looms

Susan Davis — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Despite Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's calls for weekend talks with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, those talks never materialized and the entrenched, opposing positions over offsets for disaster relief have not appeared to soften.

The next step in the fight is a cloture vote Monday evening on Reid's bill that mirrors the House-passed bill -- except it does not include any offsets for the $3.6 billion in disaster relief funding attached to the $1.043 trillion short-term continuing resolution to fund the government through mid-November.

Separating the two bills is about $1.5 billion in offsets included by House Republicans that pointedly target green energy initiatives supported by Democrats. Reid told reporters on Friday that he would accept no offsets for disaster funding. House Republicans maintain that offsets must be included.

McConnell said he has the votes to deny Reid the 60 he will need to move forward on his bill, despite the fact that 10 Republican senators sided with Reid on an earlier, separate vote on disaster relief funding. As a result, Reid's bill is expected to fail. With neither side yet willing to give on offsets, the government is once again embroiled in a spending fight days before the government will shut down if the CR is not approved.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said Sunday on CNN's State of the Union that the fight is "embarrassing" for Congress, which is facing historically low approval ratings.

"Can we, once again, inflict on the country and the American people the spectacle of a near government shutdown? I sure as heck hope not," Warner said.

On Fox News Sunday, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., voiced support for the House version of the bill. "I would ask Harry Reid to take it," he said. The Senate voted down the House version of the bill on Friday, with 59 senators voting against it and 36 voting in favor. If Reid's bill fails as expected on Monday, it would give some leverage to the House Republican position because the chamber has passed a bill.

The federal government will run out of money on Friday, but a more likely deadline for resolution is Wednesday, when the Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster funding will run dry. Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, also begins on Wednesday at sundown.

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House votes to keep government open through Nov. 18

Billy House, Amy Harder, and Susan Davis — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0400

The vote replenishes a nearly-empty Federal Emergency Management Agency account and includes $100 million in savings from a program that guaranteed a loan to Solyndra, the now bankrupt energy firm.

The development mean that the Congress will almost certainly work through the weekend to prevent FEMA from depleting its funds.

Senate Democrats had said they decided at a Thursday night caucus meeting that they would vote down a continuing resolution that emerges from the House without significant changes from a version voted on Wednesday.

"It's pretty unanimous in the Democratic Caucus that we're not gonna support their" version of the bill, Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark, said.

House Republicans found the path to passage for a short-term bill to fund the federal government by adding language intended to embarrass the Obama administration.

Following a lengthy closed-door meeting, House Republicans emerged with a strategy to keep intact the continuing resolution the House defeated on Wednesday by adding a $100 million offset targeting the government program involved in the loan guarantees awarded to the failed energy company Solyndra, the solar-energy firm backed by more than $500 million in government loan guarantees and previously supported by President Obama. The company has since declared bankruptcy and is the focus of a federal investigation.

House Republicans largely voted against the bill because the overall $1.043 trillion CR price tag exceeded Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's, R-Wis., blueprint passed by the House early this year. But House GOP leadership aides were confident those conservatives would be mollified with the inclusion of the Solyndra language. A vote was on track for Thursday evening.

The move is politically motivated since the Energy Department program through which Solyndra received a loan guarantee is going to expire Sept. 30. Under the Recovery Act that Obama signed in February 2009, Congress created the program and gave it a sunset date of Sept. 30, since the the program was aimed at short-term economic recovery.

When the stimulus package passed, lawmakers appropriated $6 billion for the program. But since then Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has peeled away more than half of that for other, unrelated purposes, including funding the successful "Cash for Clunkers" program and aid for states. The program was left with $2.4 billion in appropriated funds. The Energy Department uses the money to provide insurance in case a renewable-energy company receiving a loan guarantee fails, as Solyndra did. Citing proprietary reasons, the government doesn't disclose how much insurance it provides each company that receives a loan guarantee, so it is unclear how much of that $2.4 billion remains.

By taking money from the renewable-energy loan guarantee program, Republicans are forcing Democrats to choose between two of their clean-energy priorities. "House Republicans seem to be asking Democrats to pick their poison on a funding source for the offsets," said Salo Zelermyer, who was in the Energy Department's general counsel office during the George W. Bush administration. "If they don't want it to come from the vehicle-loan program, will Democrats also vote down a CR to defend funding for a loan-guarantee program that has taken significant heat in recent days?"

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House Republicans regrouping on CR, pondering two options

Major Garrett and Susan Davis — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Solyndra language paves way for bill to keep government running

Billy House, Amy Harder, and Susan Davis — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0400

The inclusion of the Solyndra language sent a clear message that Republicans seek to pass the CR with Republican votes, instead of softening the original bill to get House Democrats on board. Some 48 Republicans voted against the CR on Wednesday, and all but six Democrats voted against it. House Republicans largely voted against the bill because the overall $1.043 trillion CR price tag exceeded Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's, R-Wis., blueprint passed by the House early this year. But House GOP leadership aides were confident those conservatives would be mollified with the inclusion of the Solyndra language. A vote was on track for Thursday evening.

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GOP leaders name deficit reduction panel members

Dan Friedman and Susan Davis — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Senators Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., Pat Toomey, R-Pa., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio, will be the three senators Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., will name to the special bipartisan committee. Kyl's appointment has been expected, since he is the Senate Minority Whip and represented Republicans in deficit reduction talks led by Vice President Joseph Biden this spring.

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Makeup of deficit-cutting committee may doom it to gridlock

Susan Davis — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0400

"It's not exactly the 'grand bargain' dream team when I look at it," said Bob Bixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition, which advocates for fiscal responsibility.

None of the six senators tapped for the deficit reduction panel were part of the "Gang of Six" that has already done a lot of the leg work toward achieving the committee's goals. One of the appointees, Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., walked out of the debt ceiling talks with Vice President Joe Biden, and three of those named-Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., House Republican Conference Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, and House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich.-served on the Simpson-Bowles commission, and all voted against the commission's recommendations for deficit reduction through spending cuts and revenue increases. Further, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., will serve as co-chairwoman of the super committee while simultaneously running the Senate Democrats' campaign operation for 2012.

"[Murray's] position, I think, is incompatible with serving as co-chair of a committee like this," Bixby said. "On a committee like this if they're going to get anything done, both sides are going to have to make some concessions. On the campaign trail you try to emphasize differences. It's kind of difficult to bring about consensus on the one hand and sharpen differences on the other."

The chances of deadlock are rooted in the intractable partisan divide over taxes. Democrats want to raise them; in particular they want to roll back the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and use the revenue toward deficit reduction. Republicans are united against any tinkering with the tax code that is not revenue neutral and oppose any effort to raise revenues to pay down the debt. Republicans also want to target entitlement spending on programs including Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, but Democrats have ruled out any changes to entitlements unless taxes are on the table.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., made it clear from the beginning that no Republican on the panel would vote in favor of tax increases of any kind, and their nominees reinforce that: Kyl, Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, and Camp, Hensarling and Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan. A former president of the anti-tax Club for Growth, Toomey, in particular, is a signal of the GOP's unwillingness to bend on taxes. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's selection of Murray, Baucus, and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., similarly underscores that Democrats are not going to sign off on any drastic entitlement changes ahead of an election cycle where Democratic control of the Senate is in question. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, has not made her appointments yet. However, Democrats have been more willing to negotiate on entitlements, while Republicans have made no similar concessions on taxes. For example, President Obama floated a proposal to raise the Medicare beneficiary age in his unsuccessful attempt to strike a $4 trillion "grand bargain" with Boehner on deficit reduction. "I think the odds now are less than 50-50 for the kind of broad-based deal that we want here at the BPC," said Steve Bell, senior director of the Economic Policy Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center, which has done extensive work on deficit reduction. Bell contends that there is some cause for optimism, for two reasons. The first is that lawmakers on the panel bring policy bona fides and internal gravitas with their respective rank-and-file. "This is a group so far that really, really knows its stuff," he said. The second-and more motivating factor-is fear. "These are human beings and I think they're only going to react to fear that the marketplace exhibits if they fail to act," Bell added. In particular, fears remain following the recent downgrade by Standard & Poor's that other agencies including Moody's and Fitch will follow suit with additional downgrades if the deficit reduction panel makes no major strides toward that end. As structured, the committee must find $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction over 10 years by Nov. 23 and approve it with a majority vote in order to fast track it through Congress by Christmas. If the panel deadlocks along partisan lines, it would instead trigger across-the-board spending cuts in the orbit of $1.2 trillion with half of those cuts coming from defense, and the rest from discretionary spending. Entitlements would remain largely untouched if the cuts are triggered by inaction. A third option is that the panel could agree to spending cuts below their $1.5 trillion target, which if approved, would lower the trigger amount for spending cuts. For instance, if they approve $800 billion in spending cuts, it would still trigger sequestration, but lower the total from $1.2 trillion to $400 billion. However, lawmakers on the committee insisted on Wednesday that their goal was to fulfill their obligation. Toomey told reporters that a comprehensive plan was "much, much preferred over the default settings." Lawmakers return in September with just 77 days until the Nov. 23 deadline.

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Source: Democrats Murray, Baucus, Kerry on deficit reduction committee

Susan Davis — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Additionally, Murray is expected to co-chair the committee, officially named the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, along with a still unnamed House Republican. A spokesman for Reid did not respond to a request for comment.

Reid's decision to tap Murray will likely be met with scrutiny, as she is also chairing the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for the 2012 election cycle. But she is also a member of leadership, a senior member of the Budget Committee, and a woman on what is likely to be a male-dominated committee.

Baucus is chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee with jurisdiction over many areas, including entitlement programs, that the committee is expected to examine. Kerry, meanwhile, was selected for his stature and Senate tenure.

The remaining nine lawmakers have yet to be announced. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., each must name three members to the panel by August 16.

The panel will need at least seven of the 12 lawmakers to vote on a final proposal by Thanksgiving in order to fast-track it through both chambers and send it to President Obama by December 23. If the panel deadlocks along partisan lines, it would trigger across-the-board cuts for both defense and non-defense spending.

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House passes debt deal; action moves to Senate

Susan Davis — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0400

It was a victory for House Republicans, led by Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, but the victory was overtaken by the stunning appearance on the House floor by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., in her first public appearance since her January shooting. She voted in favor of the bill.

The legislation guarantees at least $2.1 trillion in deficit reduction over 10 years, with negotiators hopeful that it will achieve closer to $3 trillion in savings if Congress can enact further deficit-reduction measures by December. The legislation also provides for a vote on a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution before the end of the year. It includes no tax increases.

The bill heads to the Senate, where it is expected to pass. The Senate will vote on final passage of the bill at 12 p.m. on Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., announced on Monday. Under a unanimous-consent agreement, the vote will have to meet a 60-vote threshold for passage. The bill will then go to President Obama for his signature.

The bill was the result of months of wrangling between President Obama and congressional leaders punctuated by partisan rancor but finally resolved as the United States ran up against an Aug. 2 deadline, when the government was scheduled to begin defaulting on its debts.

House GOP leaders spent much of Monday underscoring that the deal was "less than perfect," but that it was a step forward in terms of their overall goal to cut government spending.

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., voiced dissatisfaction with the process -- House Democrats were largely left out of the negotiations -- but supported the bill because "to govern is to compromise, not to sell out, though some people on this floor think that voting for a compromise is somehow a sellout."

"The truth of the matter is there is sort of a sword of Damocles hanging over everybody's head," said Vice President Joe Biden, after meeting with House Democrats earlier on Monday, in which he described the mood as one of frustration.

Both the Republican Conference and the Democratic Caucus wrestled on Monday with internal divisions, forcing Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to intensify efforts to make sure they had the numbers needed for the bill's passage.

Some Republicans, including those on the House Armed Services Committee, voiced concerns that the defense cuts were too deep. Boehner met privately with the Republican panel members, to explain that the cuts were not negotiable at this phase, and could have been much worse.

Some of the more vocal objections came from members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the Congressional Black Caucus. Members of the CBC, in a symbolic move to underscore their anger, abstained from voting until a majority of Republicans had first cast their votes.

But while many Democrats see this deal as acquiescing too much to the demands of the tea party wing of the GOP -- not all tea party groups see it that way. The Tea Party Patriots blasted the agreement as "a failure of leadership" and added that, "they're trying to sell us a deal that means we'll be $23 trillion in debt in a few years instead of $26 trillion … that's not cutting spending, and it is just that simple."

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House approves speaker's debt plan

Billy House and Susan Davis — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0400

The latter condition was added after GOP leaders failed to secure enough votes for passage on Thursday. The language was added to appease hold-out fiscal conservatives. The speaker's proposal passed on a party line vote, 218-210.

Boehner's bill now heads to the Senate, where Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has pledged its swift defeat. All Senate Democratic Caucus members are set to vote for a motion to table the Boehner bill. Reid has offered a counter proposal to reduce the deficit by $2.2 trillion over 10 years and provide for just one increase in the debt ceiling through the 2012 elections, which the White House favors. Reid was expected to file cloture on his plan, with a vote expected early Sunday morning.

However, leaders in both parties offered little insight as to how they will find compromise in the two proposals, pass them in both chambers, and get a bill to the White House that President Obama will sign by Tuesday, when the U.S. begins to default on its debts.

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No vote on debt plan Thursday; default deadline moves closer

Major Garrett, Billy House, and Susan Davis — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0400

The postponement means a vote could occur on Friday, but the fate of the bill was uncertain. Republican leaders spent hours furiously whipping the bill, but still fell short of the 216 votes necessary for passage. House Democrats are unanimous in opposition to the bill.

The move came as running counts by National Journal and other media outlets showed that some two dozen Republicans remained opposed.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the bill would promptly be tabled in the Senate if it succeeded in passing the House, leaving a final deal still far from reach with the nation set to begin defaulting on its debts next Tuesday.

The National Journal count showed that 22 House Republicans say they will vote no on the measure, three leaning no, and eight undecided.

Without any Democratic help, Boehner's bill to reduce the deficit by $915 billion over 10 years and increase the federal debt ceiling by $900 billion, can only lose 24 of the 240 Republican votes. The vote had been expected around 6 p.m. and House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said on the House floor Thursday afternoon that Democrats likely won't come to the rescue. "There will, in fact, be bipartisan opposition to this bill. But, I predict, there will be no Democrat for this bill."

Late in the day, lawmakers were advised that the House would in session on Saturday and Sunday, waiting for the Senate to act on either the Boehner bill or the previously defeated "cut, cap and balance" legisation backed by Republicans. "No other legislative action on the debt limit-other than a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution-is expected in the House," the Republican leadership warned.

The tenseness of the whipping could be seen outside of House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy's office late into the afternoon. One of the visitors was Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. On Wednesday, tensions broke out between Boehner lieutenants and Jordan, a tea party favorite who chairs the 170-plus member Republican Study Committee, when it was discovered RSC aides were working against Boehner's plan that would allow for an additional $1.5 increase in the debt ceiling early next year contingent on Congress enacting further deficit reductions.

With the Columbus Dispatch in Ohio reporting that Jordan's disloyalty has put him in jeopardy of being zeroed out of his district, Jordan was terse as he left McCarthy's office, saying it "was just a visit." A short while later, Boehner's office released a statement suggesting some détente had been reached. Whether that involved Jordan agreeing to help round up more GOP backing for Boehner's bill, was uncertain.

Boehner said: "Jim Jordan and I may not always agree on strategy, but we are friends and allies, and the word retribution is not in my vocabulary."

If Boehner's bill does pass, Reid's comments seem to underscore that the House's work will not be done. Boehner would not answer if his bill will be a take it or leave it proposition for the Senate.

Earlier Thursday, the entire Republican conference had met behind closed doors, in what several attendees described as a pep rally of sorts as Boehner sought support to pass his bill. House GOP leadership aides expressed confidence that it would pass. A defeat on the floor would hold enormous consequences for Boehner, who has put his speakership on the line with this vote.

But the House Republicans' outward enthusiasm about their two-step debt ceiling proposal is short-sighted about the reality that lies ahead. After tabling the Boehner plan, the Senate is expected to modify it to ensure greater protections to ensure the debt ceiling is raised again early next year. Neither the White House nor Democrats are willing to have the same debate in an election year, and the White House remains concerned that Boehner's plan will not do enough to prevent the ongoing threat of a credit rating downgrade.

It has taken the full force of the House Republican leadership team to build enough support within their ranks to move the Boehner plan to the floor Thursday afternoon. If the House has to vote again-with a Reid-ized version of their bill-Republicans would face an uphill battle to pass the bill again unless House Democrats come on board. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi expects minimal defections on Boehner's plan, but Democrats would be more inclined to vote for compromise legislation that has White House support. The veto threat from the White House on Boehner's plan as is still holds.

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Boehner to rewrite debt-limit bill after CBO score

Major Garrett, Susan Davis, and Katy O'Donnell — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0400

House Speaker John Boehner will rewrite sections of his debt-limit extension bill in response to the Congressional Budget Office's score that the original plan falls short of its advertised $1 trillion in savings.

Boehner spokesman Michael Steel told National Journal what had already been communicated to GOP skeptics in the House and Senate-that the CBO score required Boehner to revamp his up-front and 10-year budget savings to achieve the stated $1 trillion in deficit reduction.

And after National Journal learned that the House Rules Committee will not report out a rule on Tuesday evening on Boehner's bill, postponing a scheduled Wednesday vote on the plan, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's office announced that the vote will take place on Thursday. The decision throws the fate of the plan in flux, with GOP aides working into the evening in search of additional savings, the sources said.

CBO has yet to score Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's companion bill in the Senate. But because Boehner's vote is first-and the most consequential of his speakership-he has to meet the demands of dozens of skeptical House Republican who want the debt-ceiling bill to represent a credible down payment on deficit relief. For better or worse, at this late hour $1 trillion in savings over 10 years has become necessary for credibility among his colleagues. Boehner and his staff are now scrambling against time to meet that standard.

A GOP source familiar with the options on the table said leaders are considering finding additional deficit-reduction measures or lowering the amount by which Boehner's proposal would increase the debt ceiling, currently at $900 billion, to a number lower than the $850 billion deficit cut projected by CBO. Lowering the debt-ceiling figure would maintain the GOP pledge to enact spending cuts in excess of the debt increase.

Leadership was already facing an uphill battle to find the votes needed to pass the speaker's plan. The CBO report was likely to fuel skepticism among undecided lawmakers, particularly those in the GOP freshman class, that the Boehner proposal was not as far-reaching as they had been told. Boehner sparked doubts among freshmen and other conservatives earlier this year when the spending cuts he negotiated to head off a government shutdown also fell short of their expectations.

Even before the CBO report, leaders spent Tuesday working their conference to find the votes, which appeared out of reach even as Boehner asserted the bill could pass the chamber. House Democratic leaders are simultaneously working to hold their caucus together in opposition to the bill, making it harder for Boehner to get the bill over the finish line on his party's votes alone.

According to CBO, Boehner's plan would cut about $850 billion from federal budget deficits between 2012 and 2021 relative to the March 2011 baseline. Relative to its January baseline-a score Boehner requested be calculated-CBO reported that the bill would reduce deficits by about $1.1 trillion. The bulk of the plan's savings would come from capping discretionary spending.

The adjusted March baseline accounts for reductions in projected spending that had already been enacted through the appropriations process after the January baseline had been prepared. The January baseline largely assumed funding levels that had been continued from the previous year. The March baseline used in the scoring is what Boehner negotiated with the White House earlier this year to reduce spending and head off a shutdown.

To score Boehner's legislation, both the January and the March baselines were adjusted to account for the expected reductions in winding down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The baseline used by CBO to score Boehner's plan includes the savings already projected for the wind down. Republicans have accused Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., of inflating the savings in his competing $2.7 trillion plan by using accounting gimmicks that are achieved by the winding down the wars, but Reid's plan has not yet been scored.

Relative to the March baseline, CBO estimates that Boehner's plan would return about $695 billion in savings from discretionary spending, $20 billion from mandatory spending, and $135 billion in savings on interest paid on the public debt due.

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House and Senate remain on collision course over debt ceiling

Billy House and Susan Davis — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0400

House Republicans and Senate Democrats sped forward Monday on their collision course over the debt ceiling, with the debate likely to come to a head this weekend, just days before the August 2 deadline when the United States is scheduled to begin defaulting on its debts.

The two chambers are scheduled to move forward this week on competing plans offered by House Speaker Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. The two plans outlined on Monday share few similarities, have been denounced by the other chamber, and offer little obvious hope for the two chambers to resolve the differences in conference and send legislation to President Obama before next Tuesday's deadline. Despite the heightened stakes, leaders on both sides reiterated their view that default would not ultimately occur.

The House Republican plan, as outlined in a background briefing by GOP aides because legislative text has not yet been released, would offer an immediate $1 trillion raise in the debt ceiling tied to legislation that includes still-undefined discretionary spending caps aimed at reducing spending by $1.2 trillion over 10 years. The $1 trillion stopgap increase would carry the U.S. until early 2012-forcing another vote in an election year, which the White House is seeking to avoid.

The House bill would then create a bipartisan, bicameral joint committee made up of 12 lawmakers who would be charged with finding $1.6-$1.8 trillion in savings through whatever means they determine by November 23. If a majority of the committee approves the deficit reduction proposal, their recommendations would be fast-tracked through both chambers, with no amendments allowed, and protected by an up-or-down majority vote by December 23.

If and when the package is enacted, there would be a symbolic congressional authorization to the president to request a second debt limit increase not to exceed what the committee has enacted, meaning no more than $1.5 trillion, which would then push the debt limit into early 2013. The process for his request would be similar to a scheme first introduced by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., that would have Congress vote on a resolution of disapproval in a political gesture to put the pressure on Democrats in the vote.

The GOP plan also requires the House and Senate to vote on a Balanced Budget Amendment by the measure after October 11, but before the end of the year. It does not require that the measure be passed by the two-thirds majority required for a constitutional amendment-a sticking point for many fiscal conservatives.

The plan, of course, is riddled with potential problems that offer no surer path to avoid default than the previous failed attempts. The White House is opposed to the two-step, short-term solution, and Boehner's right flank could be potentially hostile to the idea of an enhanced super-committee charged with coming up with a proposal that the rank-and-file would have no ability to amend. A GOP aide made it clear that no Republican lawmakers appointed to the committee would support tax increases, but that suggests the same problems that have dogged this debate will occur again in short order-a signal that could rattle the markets already wary of the U.S. government's ability to solve long-term fiscal problems.

"A short-term solution is no solution at all," Reid said on the Senate floor, arguing that markets "need certainty" that Boehner's six-to-eight-month increase would not provide. Reid is offering a counterproposal that would raise the debt ceiling past the 2012 elections and include a plan for $2.7 trillion in spending cuts. He was expected to outline the plan in detail later on Monday and brief the Democratic Caucus in the evening.

The two chambers could vote as early as Wednesday on their competing proposals, making a weekend session all but certain. The House is expected to vote on Wednesday, but a GOP leadership aide said the vote would be contingent on the Congressional Budget Office scoring the bill. "Our members won't vote on it without a score," the aide said.

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House speaker calls for spending cuts equal to rise in debt limit

Susan Davis — Tue, 10 May 2011 00:00:00 -0400

In a speech at the Economic Club of New York, rare for members of Congress, Boehner tried to soothe a growing restiveness on the right in his own party about the ongoing negotiations with Democrats, while also trying to reassure Wall Street that Republicans were serious about confronting the country's deficit problems responsibly. It is a tightrope he will have to walk many times over in the run up to the 2012 elections.

The speaker also sought to regain lost messaging ground over the GOP's proposal to revamp the Medicare system after other Republican leaders, including Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., raised doubts last week that their Medicare reform proposal would be part of the GOP's demands.

With the exception of tax increases, everything is on the table, including Medicare, Boehner said: "It's possible to make changes in a way that will ensure future beneficiaries will have access to the same kinds of options as members of Congress currently have," he said. "The budget put forth by our Budget Committee chairman, Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, accomplishes this."

Boehner's comments come as his rank-and-file has taken some heat from their constituents over the GOP's plan to convert Medicare into a voucher system for those 55 and under to purchase health care from private insurers. It would not affect current retirees' benefits. While both sides agree that rising health care costs must be addressed, Democrats oppose any plan to alter Medicare as a guaranteed-benefit system. The Medicare debate is likely to be a cornerstone of the Democrats' argument against the GOP in 2012.

"If Speaker Boehner was serious about working with Democrats and reducing the deficit responsibly, then he should not double down on Republican plans to end Medicare as we know it, continue tax cuts for millionaires, and risk our jobs and economic growth by cutting critical investments for the future," said Nadeam Elshami, a spokesman for Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

The speaker also outlined the House position on the debt limit, calling for spending cuts equal to the amount by which Congress will have to raise the debt, which will reach the $14.3 trillion current statutory limit by early August at the latest, according to the Treasury Department. "Without significant spending cuts and reforms to reduce our debt, there will be no debt-limit increase," he said.

The tough talk is likely -- at least in the short-term -- to reassure Republicans, particularly the 87 members of the freshman class, who have questioned their leadership's commitment to extracting deep cuts in exchange for their votes on the debt limit. Additionally, Boehner said Republicans remain committed to reining in the Environmental Protection Agency's ability to regulate carbon emissions and passage of three long-delayed trade pacts with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea.

Democrats on Monday suggested Boehner would be irresponsible if he did not rule out the possibility that Congress would not raise the debt limit. "Speaker Boehner must provide unwavering reassurance that no matter what happens, he will not allow the U.S. to default on its obligations," Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters.

While Boehner conceded that allowing the United States to default would be "irresponsible," he did not rule it out entirely because "it would be more irresponsible to raise the debt ceiling without simultaneously taking dramatic steps to reduce spending and reform the budget process."

It is unusual for a member of Congress to be invited to address the Economic Club of New York, but it was a signal of how closely Wall Street is clocking the fiscal debate in Washington, particularly after the credit rating company Standard & Poor's warned last month that they could downgrade the U.S.'s credit rating if the government fails to come up with a plan to address mounting deficits.

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Cantor says short-term funding bill likely needed after any deal

Susan Davis — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0400

House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., told rank-and-file members during a closed-door meeting that if a funding deal is struck later on Friday, steps will be taken to keep the government from shutting down at midnight. He assured the lawmakers that there would be some type of "bridge" put forth to allow the added time necessary to put the accord's details into legislative form.

Lawmakers said they understood that to mean a short-term continuing resolution would be taken up -- perhaps for a day, the weekend, or as long as a week -- to allow time for bill drafters to finalize their work.

"There'll be some sort of bridge," said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla. "If there's an agreement, he said we'll find a way to not shut down because of process." But Appropriations Chairman Harold Rogers, R-Ky., emphasized that would occur "only if there is agreement" with the Senate on a final spending plan.

As the clock ticked toward a shutdown deadline, there were other signs that a deal would be struck before the midnight deadline.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, told his members that while a final deal continued to elude negotiators, he remained hopeful. "Stay tuned. Keep the faith," Boehner said, according to a lawmaker in the room who asked not to be identified because conference meetings are private. The lawmaker said Boehner reiterated that the hold-up is spending cuts, and not policy riders, contrary to Democratic claims that the dollar figures were agreed to, with the dispute over abortion funding still left to work out.

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No deal, but optimism after White House meeting

Susan Davis — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Congressional leaders again failed to reach a final compromise with the Obama administration on a long-term funding plan for the federal government despite a lengthy late-Wednesday huddle at the White House.

The president has staked considerable political capital on the outcome of the talks, taking ownership of the negotiations by insisting that he will keep inviting the principals, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to the White House to make sure that an agreement is reached.

However, President Obama suggested after the meeting that the areas of disagreement have been "clarified" and "narrowed," and that staffers were expected to work through the night in hopes of reaching a final deal as early as Thursday morning. "I remain confident that if we're serious about getting something done we should be able to reach a deal, get it passed, and avert a shutdown," Obama told reporters.

The federal government is on track to shut down Friday at midnight unless an agreement on either a short- or long-term plan can be reached before then.

In a separate news conference Wednesday evening at the White House, Reid and Boehner echoed Obama's assertion that progress was being made. The two leaders are expected to meet again Thursday morning for a pulse-check on the negotiations. The speaker stressed that there is still no agreement on a final number for spending cuts, or on a number of controversial policies attached to the CR. "I have confidence we can get this done," Reid said.

With a long-term deal remaining out of reach, House Republicans moved forward with plans for a third short-term continuing resolution that would fund the government for one week while extracting $12 billion in cuts and fully funding the Pentagon for the remainder of the fiscal year.

However, Democrats have rejected this proposal as unserious. On the Senate floor Wednesday evening, Reid said Republicans were unwilling to compromise in order to appease their right flank. "We've been more than reasonable and more than fair. We meet them halfway, and they say no. We meet them more than halfway, and they still say no," Reid said.

Despite the verbal darts launched from both ends of the Capitol, there are signs that progress is being made. Boehner said as much on Thursday but noted that even if a deal is reached soon, it would still take several days to pull it together, which means another short-term CR will be necessary no matter what unfolds over the next two days.

A Democratic aide briefed on talks said the sides are "very, very close on numbers," and will likely be able to agree on a target number, under which specific program cuts will be negotiated. Democrats said that figure will not be more than $35 billion, marking a small concession by Democrats who previously tried to set the bar at $33 billion in cuts from current spending levels.

Democrats say that the main sticking point now is Republican insistence on inclusion of policy riders, such as a bar on funding of EPA's authority to regulate greenhouse gases. The Democratic aide said Reid will not agree to anything but largely symbolic policy riders, and that Boehner will have to decide if he is willing to allow a shutdown over the issue.

"Staff will work through the night to negotiate riders and the budget," a Reid spokesman said. "Reid and Obama will talk again in the morning for updates and to determine if we need another meeting."

House aides said on Wednesday that Republicans are still seeking deeper cuts than the $33 billion on the table because it falls too short of the $61 billion in cuts passed in the original House-passed CR. If the White House and Senate Democrats could sign off on a higher figure-ideally in the ballpark of $40 billion-then Republicans would be more willing to soften their position on a number of controversial policy riders involving funding for the president's health care bill, the Environmental Protection Agency, and Planned Parenthood.

While Republicans maintained a tough rhetorical stance on the funding fight, there are growing concerns that a federal shut down could cause the party significant political harm. While recent polling suggests Americans would place blame on both parties in the event of a shut down, Republicans on Capitol Hill are not confident that attitude will hold against a president with a larger bully pulpit and a message that he was willing to meet them half way.

The White House has also sought to expand the argument outside the Beltway, highlighting that a shutdown could affect not only U.S. troops but also taxpayers waiting for refunds from the Internal Revenue Service-an agency that would be shuttered during a shutdown at the height of tax season.

"A government shut down has real consequences for real people," Obama said.

Obama has more aggressively engaged in the negotiations this week, underscoring the White House's own sense of urgency to head off a shutdown. As parallels to the 1995-96 shutdown fights between the Clinton administration and a Republican Congress are drawn, there are also significant differences in the atmospherics. Specifically that the economy is still in stages of recovery and a shutdown could impede progress, and that the United States is engaged in two ongoing wars abroad as well as continued intervention in Libya.

Voters are more interested in seeing government work, particularly among swing independent voters who are expected to play a decisive role next year in Obama's reelection campaign and congressional races.

Dan Friedman contributed.

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House GOP leader previews report on cutting government waste

Susan Davis — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0400

"Other important reforms -- such as enactment of earmark reform, the presidential line-item veto, 'rainy day' funds for disaster response, and a 'sunset' commission that evaluates whether federal programs are serving the taxpayers' interests -- represent additional tools House Republicans are proposing to enact this year to support these efforts as well," the report states.

A spokesman for Boehner said the report kicks off the "Spring Cleaning" project endorsed by House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., which includes a full committee markup in the Budget Committee Wednesday on the line-item veto. Next week, the House is scheduled to take up that legislation, as well as a sunset commission bill.

The report also credits the Appropriations Committee for eliminating 53 programs in 2005, and the passage of a $40 billion spending reconciliation package this year.

Earmark reform language is expected to be included in the House-Senate conference report on a lobbying overhaul measure after Hastert promised appropriators that the legislation would extend changes to all authorizing and appropriations bills in order to garner enough votes to pass the measure.

The lobbying overhaul bill is expected on the floor in short order as Hastert and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., issued a joint statement last Friday that they want a bill by the July Fourth recess. Hastert has not yet named conferees.

Boehner's report also highlights 14 case studies of what standing committees have done since January 2005 to curb spending and eliminate what the GOP deemed unnecessary federal programs, such as successful efforts in the appropriations process to cut the "Jobs in the Woods Program" that provided aid to displaced timber workers and the elimination of the U.S. Capitol Police's Mounted Unit.

The report also credits Republican-led congressional oversight efforts, such as an ongoing investigation by the Homeland Security Committee into a $25 million contract awarded to a local bus and limousine company owned by a convicted felon that has been implicated in an expanding criminal probe.

How to rein in federal spending has proven increasingly divisive within the House Republican Conference this year as some members, especially conservatives, have shown an escalating willingness to take on their own party, particularly on issues of earmark and budget process reform.

Democrats heaped scorn on the GOP oversight and reform claims.

"Congressional Republicans ought to sell ice to Eskimos if they can convince anyone that they've been an effective watchdog," said Government Reform ranking member Henry Waxman, D-Calif. "Their record on oversight is shameful. They've held no one accountable for the enormous mistakes made in Iraq, and the indifference and incompetence of the Republican leadership has cost taxpayers billions of dollars in waste, fraud and abuse."

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Bush intervention helps defuse tensions over FBI raid

Susan Davis — Fri, 26 May 2006 00:00:00 -0400

Agents involved in the raid are prohibited from accessing the materials, which will be placed under the watch of the U.S. solicitor general.

The dispute stems from the search of Louisiana Democratic Rep. William Jefferson's Rayburn building office last Saturday night. Jefferson is the target of an ongoing federal criminal investigation.

The Justice Department said the search was an action of last resort after Jefferson failed to comply with prior subpoena attempts.

But House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., charged that the unprecedented search violated the separation of powers outlined in the Constitution, as well as "speech and debate" protections provided to members of Congress.

"Our government has not faced such a dilemma in more than two centuries," Bush said in a statement. "Yet after days of discussions, it is clear these differences will require more time to be worked out."

Hastert lauded the move. "I think this is a good process for us to step back, negotiate with the Department of Justice, and make sure that both the principles of the Constitution are upheld and that Justice can move forward so that if members have an issue with the Department of Justice we can make sure that the debate clause and the constitutional principles are addressed but yet other issues can be addressed," he told reporters.

Hastert and Pelosi late Thursday issued a joint statement directing the House counsel to begin negotiations with the Justice Department "regarding the protocols and procedures to be followed in connection with evidence of criminal conduct that might exist in the offices of Members."

In a statement, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said his department "has sought to protect the integrity of this important ongoing public corruption investigation. The president's order does that and provides additional time to reach a permanent solution that allows this investigation to continue while accommodating the concerns of certain members of Congress."

The House Republican Conference met Thursday afternoon for a briefing on the dispute. "Right now, I think the issue is pretty much put to bed with what the president said," said House Ethics Chairman Doc Hastings, R-Wash.

Yet many rank-and-file Republicans remain angered at what they view as an attempt by officials in the Justice Department to intimidate Hastert after ABC News reported Wednesday that Hastert had emerged in a separate corruption probe of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. ABC News cited only senior government officials in its report.

The Justice Department issued two public denials, and Hastert's attorneys have threatened legal action against the news outlet, maintaining that there is no truth to it.

"This one issue may have been put to bed, but the conduct of the FBI to try to pressure and intimidate our speaker was unconscionable and possibly criminal," said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif.

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Bribery probe target files for return of documents taken in raid

Susan Davis — Thu, 25 May 2006 00:00:00 -0400

Jefferson's attorney, Robert Trout, also requested that the agents and Justice Department officials involved in the search be "immediately enjoined" from further involvement with the confiscated materials, that the materials be sequestered, and that agents provide a report on the actions taken with the materials since they were removed from his office Saturday evening.

"The government's unprecedented and extraordinary action on the evening of May 20 constituted not only a direct assault on the privacy and dignity of William Jefferson, but a violation of the Constitution itself," wrote Trout. "While the situation may be a novel one, the principles that govern the relationship between the three branches of government are over two hundred years old."

The Justice Department has shown no indication that it intends to return the documents, despite a rare joint effort by House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to demand their return.

"The Justice Department was wrong to seize records from Congressman Jefferson's office in violation of the constitutional principle of separation of powers, the speech or debate clause of the Constitution, and the practice of the last 219 years," Hastert and Pelosi said in a joint statement. "These constitutional principles were not designed by the Founding Fathers to place anyone above the law. Rather, they were designed to protect the Congress and the American people from abuses of power, and those principles deserve to be vigorously defended."

U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has characterized the move as a last resort, because prior subpoena attempts were ignored.

"This could all be cleared up with Jefferson volunteering the documents they are seeking," a GOP leadership aide said. "If he would comply, we could take the time to further review the [constitutional] matter."

Hastert and his top aides have been incensed by the Justice Department's failure to notify the House of its intention to search Jefferson's office, despite getting a warrant 48 hours before the search, and while the House was still in session.

Hastert has voiced his concerns to President Bush, who is now in the position of having one of his strongest congressional allies - Hastert -- pitted against senior officials at his Justice Department.

Jefferson continues to boldly defend himself against bribery allegations despite two guilty pleas from former associates, and an FBI video of him allegedly accepting a $100,000 cash bribe, with $90,000 later found in the freezer of his Washington home.

Jefferson refused a private and public request by Minority Leader Pelosi Wednesday to vacate his membership on the exclusive Ways and Means Committee.

A senior Democratic leadership aide said Pelosi is considering putting the matter to a Steering Committee vote or a full House Democratic Caucus vote in order to shame Jefferson into stepping down. However, if he refuses to do so, only a full House vote can remove him.

While Hastert and Pelosi have defended the constitutional questions arising from the raid, both have been critical of Jefferson and sought to separate the two matters. "No person is above the law, neither the one being investigated nor those conducting the investigation," they said.

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Lawmaker demands return of documents taken in FBI raid

Susan Davis — Wed, 24 May 2006 00:00:00 -0400

"We think those materials ought to be returned," Hastert told reporters Wednesday, following the weekly House Republican Conference meeting. Hastert added that the FBI agents involved in the raid should be removed from the investigation.

"We also think those people involved in that issue ought to be frozen out of that for the sake of the constitutional aspect of it," he said. It is unclear what legal mechanism Hastert will use to retrieve the documents, but the Justice Department indicated Wednesday it will not do so willingly.

"We have made extensive efforts since last August to obtain this important information through other means and were unable to do so," it said in a statement. "The department has conducted similar searches in the past and our actions were lawful and necessary under these very unique circumstances. We are optimistic that continuing talks with the Congress can produce a result that meets law enforcement's needs and also allays any institutional concerns that Congress may have."

Hastert told reporters that talks were ongoing with the White House and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Hastert added that the constitutional issue is unrelated to the merits of the federal criminal investigation into Jefferson, who is the target of a bribery probe. "We are not trying to protect any individual, but we ought to protect the prerogatives of the House as far as the Constitution," Hastert said.

Jefferson's attorney could not be reached for comment at presstime. Rep. Louis (Louie) Gohmert, R-Texas, a former county district judge, said Wednesday the judge who approved the affidavit to search Jefferson's office acted improperly. "As a judge, I can't imagine letting that happen," he said.

Gohmert said he fully supported Hastert's intention to retrieve the documents but acknowledged that because such a search has never before occurred, the legal path remains uncertain. "We're kind of in new territory," he said.

Hastert appears to have bipartisan support as he moves forward. Aides for Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., were included in discussions Tuesday, and Hastert and Pelosi are scheduled to meet today to discuss the matter. Separately, Pelosi today privately and publicly asked Jefferson to step down from his seat on the Ways and Means Committee, but he rejected the requests.

Jefferson has not been charged and maintains his innocence despite FBI evidence that includes a videotape of Jefferson accepting a $100,000 cash bribe from an FBI informant. "None of the matters reported to be under scrutiny involve issues under jurisdiction of the Ways and Means Committee," Jefferson said in a statement, "Therefore, such a request would be even more perplexing and unreasonable."

Pelosi also released a one-line public letter to Jefferson that states, "In the interest of upholding the high ethical standard of the House Democratic Caucus, I am writing to request your immediate resignation from the Ways and Means Committee."

Pelosi has no other procedural option short of a full House vote to remove Jefferson from the panel.

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House leader says FBI raid may warrant Supreme Court review

Susan Davis — Tue, 23 May 2006 00:00:00 -0400

"I've got to believe at the end of the day this is going to end up across the street at the Supreme Court," Boehner said. "I don't see anything short of it."

Boehner told reporters Tuesday that he supports the position of House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., regarding the constitutional questions stirred up by the raid.

"I, clearly, had serious concerns about what happened and whether people at the Justice Department have looked at the Constitution lately," Boehner said, adding that he was "throttling himself back" at the advice of his staff to temper his comments on the issue.

Hastert said he will consult with Democratic leaders after a full review of the facts to decide how to proceed.

"I expect to seek a means to restore the delicate balance of power among the branches of government that the founders intended," Hastert said Monday. Boehner said the raid was not discussed when GOP leaders met with President Bush Tuesday.

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., also told reporters Tuesday that he shares the concerns of the speaker. As for Jefferson, Hoyer said House Democrats are unlikely to take any action against him unless he is indicted. "If he is charged, we may have to address that," he said.

Jefferson sits on the exclusive Ways and Means Committee.

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FBI's Saturday night Capitol Hill raid raises alarms

Susan Davis — Mon, 22 May 2006 00:00:00 -0400

"There is no excuse for the FBI for the first time in history searching a congressional office and apparently doing so in total [dis]regard of due process as it relates to the legislative branch," former Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., wrote Sunday night in an e-mail to several members and aides obtained by CongressDaily. Gingrich was particularly critical of what he described as the executive branch trampling constitutional lines of authority.

"The president should respond accordingly and should discipline (probably fire) whoever exhibited this extraordinary violation," he wrote. "The protection of the legislative branch from the executive branch's policing powers is a fundamental principle which goes all the way back to the English Civil War," he added, describing the incident as "the most blatant violation of the constitutional separation of powers in my lifetime."

House officials were given short notice of the FBI's intentions Saturday, and neither Jefferson's attorney, Robert Trout, nor the general counsel of the House were allowed to monitor the search, according to the Associated Press. "The government's actions in obtaining a search warrant to search the offices of a United States congressman were outrageous," Trout said in a statement, according to AP. "There were no exigent circumstances necessitating this action."

Charles Tiefer, a law professor at the University of Baltimore who served as solicitor and deputy general counsel of the House for 11 years, said the incident "raises some serious separation of powers questions when extraordinarily harsh and extreme tactics are used on the legislative branch."

During his tenure, Tiefer said the FBI conducted "many successful investigations" of members of Congress without having to resort to raids. "The FBI could have assured the safeguard of these materials just as well by involving the House Sergeant at Arms in the subpoena process," he said.

Tiefer said the raid could set a chilling precedent. "Congress is frequently at odds with the FBI and the Department of Justice and other investigative or security agents working with them," he said. "It must intimidate critical overseers to know that the FBI feels they have the power to seize their file cabinets without even serving a subpoena beforehand."

Jefferson has not been charged with any wrongdoing and maintains his innocence, although he has publicly acknowledged that he could be indicted. Jefferson's claims were not aided by an 83-page affidavit used to justify the raid that states the FBI has videotape of Jefferson accepting a $100,000 cash bribe from an FBI informant, and the cash was later found in his refrigerator during a separate search of his Washington home in August.

Tiefer noted that the incident is somewhat reminiscent of the 1980 Abscam scandal when FBI agents posed as Middle Eastern businessmen to bribe members of Congress in the first major public corruption sting operation that also resulted in accusations of entrapment against the FBI.

"Tactics that seem justified in the individual instance don't seem justified in the long term," said Tiefer, who served as assistant Senate legal counsel during Abscam. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., had not released any statement on the raid at presstime.

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GOP mulls perils of immigration fight

Susan Davis and Greta Wodele — Wed, 17 May 2006 00:00:00 -0400

"This is a survival of the fittest moment," observed Michael Franc, vice president of government relations for the conservative Heritage Foundation.

Franc said that immigration, joined with federal spending and the war in Iraq, will be the pre-eminent issues in the midterm election for right-of-center voters, who are "seeing the world through the prism of immigration reform right now."

Unlike their Senate counterparts, House Republican leaders have been loath to get behind the president in his call to enact legislation that would create a temporary worker program open to those who have illegally entered the country.

One senior House GOP leadership aide argued that any attempt to put their members on record before the midterm elections will "annihilate" their conservative base, which considers any form of temporary worker program as synonymous with amnesty.

When asked Tuesday to respond directly to Bush's support of providing illegal immigrants with a path to legal status, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., only reiterated his support for border security legislation.

"I think the president reflected a lot of the ideas we have in Congress," Hastert said. "The first thing we have to do is enforce the border, and then we can look at alternatives."

House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., has been equally reluctant.

"While I appreciate the president's willingness to tackle big problems, I have real concerns about moving forward with a guestworker program or a plan to address those currently in the United States illegally until we have adequately addressed our serious border security problems," he said Monday.

House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, has declined to offer his personal view of a guest worker program.

"I am the leader of House Republicans, and as a leader you have got to take your own personal position on some issues and set it aside and look at where the team is going," he said Tuesday.

House GOP leaders say they stand behind their border legislation because polling indicates it is a popular first step, with less potential fallout.

"If you look at all the polling, they are very supportive of what the House did, in terms of enforcing the borders and enforcing our laws," Boehner said.

"Border security is one of the few things that are working for them right now and they don't want to give that up lightly," noted Franc.

But the Senate bill on the floor this week includes a temporary guestworker proposal -- and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said Tuesday he scheduled two weeks of open debate in hopes of convincing Americans that the country needs a comprehensive approach. "The American people will understand it's much more than just building a fence," said Frist. Not all of his colleagues are convinced.

"They're playing a high-wire act," said Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., about Senate GOP leaders and the president.

Sessions agrees with the House position and has urged Senate GOP leaders to enact border security legislation this year and then hold hearings on the economic effects of a guestworker program before passing a proposal.

But several Republicans worry that if they do not pass a House-Senate compromise before the election, voters could see the GOP-controlled Congress as lacking leadership on a defining issue.

"[Former Senate Minority Leader] Daschle lost and Democrats got bumped down because of the 'obstructionist' label," Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., said Tuesday about the 2004 election cycle when Republicans accused Democrats of blocking their efforts to enact legislation. "And we could fall victim to the same fate if we're not careful."

Franc noted that Republicans also need to mind three main constituencies in this debate: their core party constituency, the business community, and Hispanic voters.

"The worst-case scenario is you find a way to anger them all -- which is doable," he said.

Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan. -- a potential presidential candidate in 2008 who supports a comprehensive approach -- said Tuesday that the initiatives Bush announced Monday night could be enough to provide political shelter for the party if GOP leaders fail to push through a comprehensive bill this year.

Republicans believe that for the two chambers to reach middle ground, the president needs to play a critical role. Despite Bush's low approval numbers, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said the president, "on this issue, has unique sway."

While several Republicans said Bush's speech helped build momentum for a comprehensive bill, one GOP aide said it also painted GOP lawmakers into a corner. If Congress decides not to pass an immigration bill this year, it will be viewed as a rebuke of the president. "That's the danger in the president giving a speech like that," said the aide.

The White House acknowledged that they will need to be diligent in negotiations with Congress.

"I can't tell you exactly how we're going to deal with Roy Blunt or Denny Hastert or anybody else. But I guarantee you the president knows that this is an issue of sufficient concern that he is going to pay heed to friends and allies on Capitol Hill," White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said Tuesday.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove will be at the weekly House GOP Conference meeting Wednesday to talk about immigration.

With Bush's approval ratings at historic lows, however, some argue that the White House will not be able to drive this debate, particularly as leaders in both chambers are cognizant of the party's vulnerability of losing seats -- and possibly the majority -- come November.

"This is where your presidential moment comes in," Franc said. "If [Bush] in good faith realizes that the House can only go 10 percent of the way he'll have to ask himself, 'Can I settle for a partial solution now and make a stronger case in the next Congress?' To do it all in one fell swoop, if that's his decision, he's probably not going to get very far."

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Senate to debate war funding next week

Susan Davis and Greta Wodele — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 00:00:00 -0400

Frist originally scheduled one week of floor debate for the package. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and other conservatives are expected to challenge several provisions that they consider "pork projects" and not related to emergency funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan or relief for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Democrats are expected to offer numerous amendments to increase spending for hot-button election-year issues like veteran's health care and energy independence. The Senate reconvenes Monday for morning hour business, but votes are not expected to begin until Tuesday on the measure.

If the Senate approves the $106.5 billion package -- nearly $15 billion more than President Bush requested and the House passed -- the Senate version is likely to face strong opposition from the House over the extra spending when the two chambers negotiate a compromise.

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