The frenzied action on Capitol Hill this week captured in miniature the strengths and limitations of the often-combative political strategy that has guided President Bush and congressional Republicans. Since taking office, Bush has placed the highest priority on unifying his party behind an agenda of bold conservative change, even at the price of provoking intense resistance from Democrats and sharply polarizing the electorate. That strategy was evident this week in the high-stakes Senate showdowns over cuts in federal social programs, drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and renewal of the Patriot Act. On each front, Republicans commanded high levels of party unity — but found that wasn't always enough to overcome almost united Democratic resistance.
The White House and GOP leadership fashioned bills that virtually guaranteed achingly close votes because they included provisions strongly opposed by most Democrats and some moderate Republicans. In the past, that sort of brinksmanship has allowed Bush and the GOP to win big changes in policy with small legislative margins. That formula worked again this week when both chambers narrowly passed the budget-cutting legislation without a single Democratic vote. Yet the same strategy produced two stinging defeats for the GOP when Senate Democrats, helped by a handful of Republicans, held together for filibusters that blocked the Arctic drilling and the long-term renewal of the Patriot Act. Sixty votes are needed to cut off a filibuster.
"What they are coming up against now is the limits of partisanship — the limits of dividing the country so decisively," presidential historian Robert Dallek said. In other ways, the week underscored the magnitude of the GOP advantage in Washington. Unified control of the executive and legislative branches has allowed Republicans to shift the terms of debate in their direction on almost every issue. Democrats had to exert great effort to contest conservative priorities, and were unable to highlight any of their own. In the budget debate, for instance, the question was how much to cut spending on Medicaid — not whether to expand it, as many Democrats prefer, to cover more of the increasing number of Americans without health insurance. "This is still the Republican era and they are still in total control of the choices," Yale University political scientist Stephen Skowronek said.
"What we've seen are the difficulties of concerted action on
agenda, but you don't see any alternative agenda." Yet Republicans remain stymied on many fronts by their inability to attract the defections among moderate Senate Democrats that the White House expected after Bush's reelection last year. That problem largely doomed Bush's top domestic priority this year: restructuring Social Security. In the Senate's three major votes this week, Republicans won support from four Democrats on Arctic drilling, two on the Patriot Act and none on the budget that ultimately required a tie-breaking vote from Vice President Dick Cheney to pass. Many GOP strategists say they expect the party to use these votes against Democratic candidates next fall, particularly the filibuster against the Patriot Act. Despite public warnings to that effect from key GOP figures, the Democrats maintained their filibuster. "There's a recognition in the Democratic caucus that the only way we are going to compete … is if we stick together," said Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).
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