Dems on Defense
BARNES, FRED
Dems on Defense How Republicans won the PR battle over the stimulus package. BY FRED BARNES SENATE MAJORITY LEADER Tom Daschle never had it so good. For weeks, the White House made concession...
...The president traveled to Capitol Hill on December 19 ostensibly to address the Republican and Democratic caucuses in the House and Senate and the GOP conference in the Senate...
...They wanted a bill to pass and disliked the two partisan alternatives...
...Still, the anti-Daschle mantra didn't work initially...
...They did so by engaging President Bush publicly in partisan battle, exactly what he'd shied away from since September 11...
...The next day on Meet the Press, Vice President Dick Cheney singled out Daschle as the obstructionist who had bottled up a stimulus...
...I look forward to working with both bodies, in any way I can, to convince those who are reluctant to get a bill done that this makes sense for America, so we can leave for Christmas knowing full-well that we've done the people's business," Bush declared...
...He said he has no intention of calling a special session of Congress to enact a stimulus...
...Daschle blew up a bipartisan agreement that would have provided federal backing for terrorism insurance because it barred punitive damages and limited attorney' fees, thus alienating the trial lawyers' lobby...
...So Bush and Republicans started from a strong position...
...The press, which adores Daschle, refused to take the accusation seriously, though House-passed measures were piling up on Daschle's desk...
...It takes | time," a Republican aide said...
...The Bush bill, he said, would increase the deficit and boost interest rates but not help the economy much...
...How did Republicans pull this off, especially against Daschle, as smooth, clever, and likable an operator as Washington has seen in years...
...He said a super-majority of 60 votes would be required to pass a stimulus bill...
...First, however, Republicans on Capitol Hill had to come to grips with a new fact of life in post-September 11 America: They're a lot more popular than Democrats...
...One constituency was highly satisfied with Daschle's performance...
...Bush had been talking to all three, and especially Breaux, for weeks about a stimulus...
...In his radio address on December 8, he cited Senate leadership for failing to enact a stimulus package...
...Normally such strong hostility in the media would have prompted Republicans to desist...
...He carried out their wishes in deep-sixing the stimulus bill, though he left open the possibility of raising it again in early 2002...
...But the Bush bill would deliver health care subsidies the wrong way, Daschle said...
...Suddenly Daschle looked and sounded like a man on the defensive...
...Which party's approach to economic problems is preferable...
...Maybe not, but Daschle will have to compromise if a stimulus bill is going to be revived...
...Actually, Bush and Republicans had already caved on both...
...In early December, Bush called on Democratic leaders to act on a stimulus package...
...in the House, Republicans passed a stimulus bill that Democrats ridiculed and even some Republicans regarded as an embarrassment...
...If it does, Daschle will once more face the wrath of Republicans...
...Republicans top Democrats 44 percent to 35 percent...
...The White House strategy was to gradually step up criticism of Democrats...
...When the House replaced its earlier bill with the new Bush-Breaux measure, the majority became Congress-wide...
...President Bush and Republicans were on defense, Daschle and Democrats on offense...
...Bush's personal role was crucial...
...After the terrorist attacks, Republicans as a party pulled even or slightly ahead of Democrats in the generic congressional ballot...
...Instead, reporters referred to the GOP attacks as "demo-nization" of Daschle...
...Republican Leader Trent Lott tried to bring up the stimulus on the Senate floor the next day, but Daschle blocked it...
...That was most Senate Democrats...
...It's Fred Barnes is executive editor of THE WEEKLY STANDARD...
...He insisted on more Republican concessions...
...But the week before Christmas, the tables turned...
...five points in the CNN/^&4 Today /Gallup survey, eleven points in the Fox News Dynamics poll...
...Daschle was unmoved...
...And they rallied the entire GOP apparatus in Washington to serve as a Greek chorus, chanting monotonously that Daschle is an obstructionist, who is blocking legislation for crude partisan reasons...
...Now they have a lead outside the margin of error...
...They agreed with the president on a compromise stimulus bill that cut the middle class income-tax rate from 27 percent to 25 percent and provided a tax credit for health care for the jobless...
...This was green-eyeshade stuff...
...For weeks, the White House made concession after concession on an economic stimulus package and Daschle pocketed them without making concessions of his own...
...This could lead to the cancellation of real estate developments, new buildings, and other projects...
...Daschle, tough and resourceful, will live to fight another day...
...And the White House has just the issue to fight over—terrorism insurance...
...It was Bush's next maneuver that put Daschle on the defensive...
...He—not the White House or congressional Republicans—got the lion's share of the blame for not enacting a stimulus bill that lacked much stimulative potential but was popular with the public nonetheless...
...Without a government backstop, insurance companies say they won't offer such insurance after December 31...
...Bush didn't seem terribly interested...
...At a breakfast with journalists, he repeatedly listed everything the Senate did pass in 2001, as if to say, "I am not an obstructionist...
...Of course, this was true only because Democrats would filibuster or make procedural objections (as Daschle himself did...
...But this time, they stuck with the anti-Daschle theme, partly because of White House encouragement...
...On defense, Daschle made his case at numerous forums...
...Daschle insisted Republicans wouldn't negotiate on unemployment benefits and health care...
...But the important session was a public gathering with three Senate Democrats—John Breaux of Louisiana, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, and Zell Miller of Georgia...
...It's not just Bush...
...The agreement was significant for a tactical reason: It showed the Bush-backed measure had a majority of at least 52 votes in the Senate...
...Despite the recession, Bush's handling of the economy is supported by two-thirds of Americans, according to the Washington Post-ABC News poll...
...It may be dormant for now, but it's not dead for good...
Vol. 7 • December 2001 • No. 16
