REPUBLICANS assumed full control of both chambers of Congress for the first time in eight years, on Tuesday, Jan. 6. Republican leaders met keenly to get President Barack Obama’s signature on some bills and to confront him with their own legislative agenda.
The new Congress planned to move swiftly toward a veto showdown with the Democratic President over big issues like energy, health care, taxes, and immigration. Votes on these issues are planned on the House and Senate floors during the first two weeks of January. If passed, Obama would be forced to either accept or reject the bills, but Republicans believe they could win either way, with the option of blaming the President for blocking bipartisan bills.
The oil-pumping Keystone XL pipeline, for instance, has been at the top of the GOP agenda, with Republicans calling the project a “job-creator,” but Obama and many Democrats considering it a pathway to worsening global warming.
“We will get to work right away,” said House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif). “And with a new Republican-led Senate, we anticipate many of these bipartisan solutions to finally reach the president’s desk.”
The intra-party leadership struggle underscored the political fear Republicans will face as they looked ahead to their control of Congress. Still, the evident ability to pass the Keystone pipeline legislation showed their potential to advance an agenda. Votes in a Senate committee and on the House floor were scheduled for later this week on the pipeline, which passed in the House but died in a Democratic-led filibuster in the Senate last year.
Now, Republicans appear to have more than enough votes to clear it through the Senate as well, picking up nine seats in the elections.
“I’m not prepared at this point to issue a veto threat related to that specific piece of legislation,” said White House spokesman Josh Earnest, outlining concerns of whether the President will reject the pipeline measure.
Regardless, Republicans are prepared to cast the legislation as a bipartisan jobs bill that should be signed into law.
Other signature policies the GOP plans to confront Obama with include the controversial Affordable Care Act and executive actions on immigration, with Republicans wanting to weaken the President’s control over both.
At the White House, President Obama plans to meet with the new congressional leadership next week as both sides positioned themselves for the next two years of clashes and, hopefully, occasional cooperation to help set the stage for the outcomes of the 2016 presidential and congressional elections.
“The first thing we need to do is demonstrate we heard what the voters were saying on Nov. 4. To me, they said we want you to function and we want you to solve problems,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas.), the number two Republican leader.
Presided by Vice President Joe Biden, the opening congressional meeting was a day of pomp and circumstance, with both new and veteran leaders raising their hands to swear the oath of office as their families looked on to witness the biennial tradition. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) became majority leader of the Senate following his approval by Republicans last year. McConnell, who replaces Harry Reid (D-Nev.), has expressed his willingness to work with President Obama to get things done.
“There’s a lot we can get done together If the president puts his famous pen to use signing bills rather than vetoing legislation his liberal allies don’t like,” McConnell said late last year.
McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner, who faced much opposition even from his own party, were both to deliver remarks on their chamber’s floors as they began laying down markers for the legislative battles ahead.
Boehner survived his election as House Speaker, though opposed by more than a dozen Republicans and Tea party-backed Reps. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) and Ted Yoho of (R-Fla.). The ranks of the opponents grew in the hours ahead of Tuesday’s vote, but appeared to remain short of the number needed to unseat Boehner. Many lawmakers dismissed the challenge as a “needless distraction” at a moment when the Republican Party should be celebrating its majorities and proving to voters of its leadership.
“It’s time to put all this silliness behind and move on,” said Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.). “We’re on probation. If we don’t perform… voters can make a pivot in a heartbeat.”
Two years ago, Boehner faced similar criticism, and sweated out his election to a second term. His influence in the House is considerably stronger this year after the Republicans’ sweeping electoral triumph during the November midterms. The party will hold 246 House seats (to 188 for the Democrats) in the new Congress, the biggest GOP majority in nearly 70 years.
As required by the Constitution, Congress convened Tuesday at noon.
(With reports from Associated Press, CNN)
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(LA Midweek January 7-9, 2015 Sec. A pg.1)
