Republicans in US Congress may have dialed back their rhetoric, but that does not mean they are any more likely to yield to an unpopular Democratic president.
Coming off a bruising debt-ceiling debate that spooked investors, unnerved Americans and took the country to the edge of default, Republican leaders have promised to lower the temperature on Capitol Hill and try to work with US President Barack Obama wherever possible.
However, Republicans have little incentive to compromise on their small--government philosophy and the spending and tax issues that will dominate the agenda through the end of the year.
Obama’s negative approval rating gives him little clout on Capitol Hill and a surprise Republican victory in a New York special election on Tuesday is seen by his opponents as further repudiation of his policies.
Many of Obama’s proposals to stimulate the economy and cut into a stubbornly high 9.1 percent unemployment rate also run counter to Republicans’ small--government philosophy.
Since unveiling his jobs plan last week, the president has repeatedly exhorted Republicans to approve the US$447 billion package.
Following the current Capitol Hill playbook, Republicans might be unwilling to give the president a victory as they gear up for elections in November next year that could hand them control of the White House and both chambers of Congress, said Ethan Siegal, from the public policy analysis firm The Washington Exchange.
“Their new post-summer recess strategy appears to be to smile and not look so harsh as they did during the debt-ceiling debate, to look open to anything that President Obama might propose, but basically stick to their philosophical and political guns,” Siegal said.
Republican leaders in the US House of Representatives have said they share the president’s goal of boosting employment, but disagree with many of the methods he would use.
Republicans have rejected many of the proposed measures and have ruled out the tax increases that Obama’s wants to cover the cost.
“Republicans and Democrats don’t and aren’t going to agree on everything,” House Republican leader Eric Cantor said on Tuesday. “Maybe the issue of taxation, maybe some of these other issues, will have to be left for the election.”
Republicans have plenty of reasons to feel confident about their electoral prospects.
Obama will be saddled by a sluggish economy and high unemployment, while Republicans are favored to retain control of the House and could easily win the Senate as well.
Swing voters, who could determine the outcome of next year’s elections, see themselves as more in tune ideologically with Republicans than with Democrats, according to a poll that was released on Tuesday by the centrist Democratic think tank Third Way.
They also gave Republicans higher marks for deficit reduction, a top priority for Americans.
Republican leaders are doubtless aware of Congress’ rock--bottom approval ratings in the wake of the debt-limit crisis as Americans worry whether both parties can work together to avert another recession.
That could mean a smoother path for the routine legislation that was shunted aside during the debt-ceiling fight.
The Senate’s top Republican, Mitch McConnell, said on Tuesday that he thought Congress would not allow money for airport construction projects to lapse again, as it did last month.
Cantor said on Monday he was not inclined to provoke a confrontation over a spending bill that ensures the government can continue functioning beyond Sept. 30.
A battle over a similar bill in April took the government to the brink of a shutdown.
Republicans have also said that budget concerns will not hold up disaster aid for victims of Hurricane Irene and other recent catastrophes.
However, the two parties remain at odds over how quickly Congress must approve that money, and whether it should be offset with spending cuts to avoid deepening the country’s fiscal woes.
However, a divided Congress may have trouble passing even relatively noncontroversial legislation as the election nears, one analyst said.
“I just don’t think there’s a lot of trust or interest in cooperation. It’s basically punting it back to the voters and saying, ‘pick one [party] and we’ll go from there,’” said Brian Gardner, a Washington analyst with Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was