WP: Bush Faces New Skepticism From Republicans on Hill

Friday, January 28, 2005; Page A01

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va., Jan. 27 -- When President Bush flies to this mountain resort Friday to meet congressional Republicans, he will encounter a party far less malleable and willing to follow his lead than it has been for the past four years.

Bush is accustomed to getting his way with Congress and finished his first term without suffering a major defeat. But mid-level and rank-and-file Republicans have begun to assert themselves on issues including intelligence reform, immigration and a major restructuring of Social Security, the centerpiece of his second-term agenda.

Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.), who has offered a variety of Social Security ideas that differ from the president's, assured Bush at a meeting Wednesday in the White House residence that he is still fighting on his side.

"I've just opened up a new front," Thomas added, according to a participant.

Such independence was much rarer when the party's prospects for keeping control of Congress were tied to Bush's political health, and his reelection was everyone's priority. But now that Bush has run his last campaign, he is being bolder in calling for legislative action than many lawmakers who must run every two years are willing to be.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42895-2005Jan27.html

all fall into line. If we don't get a Democratic congress or house in 06 we are done for.

No respect for Republicans at all.

This is a son-et-lumiere to create a perception of one-party rule. Remember: "perception is reality" in politics.