Bloomberg
By Richard Rubin, Kathleen Hunter and Mike Dorning
November 6, 2014
President
Barack Obama and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell promised
Americans yesterday they’d search for common ground, then fired
the opening salvos of a new battle over immigration.
The
usually serious McConnell laughed, cracked smiles and joked as he met
with reporters in Louisville, Kentucky, relating an invitation Obama
sent for lunch at the White House and pledging an end to partisan
gridlock. Yet he said Obama’s plans to take executive action on
immigration, if Congress doesn’t act, would amount to “waving a red flag
in front of a bull”
Though
the Nov. 4 election results shifted control of the Senate from
Democrats to Republicans, it did little to change the underlying balance
of power in Washington’s divided government, in which each party
essentially has had veto power over any major undertaking for four years
now.
U.S. Immigration Reform Takes a Detour on the Hill
McConnell
joined with House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, to outline
an agenda that includes items sure to lead to confrontations
with Obama. The two lawmakers wrote an opinion article on the Wall
Street Journal’s website last night saying they’d work to repeal Obama’s
health-care law and revive measures on jobs and the economy that
weren’t approved by the Senate under the Democrats’
control.
‘Not Mopey’
A
subdued Obama said at a White House news conference yesterday that he
is “not mopey” about the Republican sweep in the midterm elections.
He mused about sharing “a Kentucky bourbon” with the incoming majority
leader and interpreted the vote as a mandate to “get stuff done.”
He
then brushed aside McConnell’s warning on an immigration order,
repeating a promise to take action by the end of the year to halt
deportations
for some undocumented immigrants if Congress doesn’t move on rewriting
the law. “What I’m not going to do is just wait,” he said.
As
for Republicans who might be “angered or frustrated,” he added, “those
are folks, I just have to say, who are also deeply opposed to
immigration
reform in any form.”
Obama
and McConnell offered words of conciliation without giving ground on
their basic political positions. There were no signs of changes to
come in party leadership when the next Congress is seated in January
and the occupant of the White House remains the same. They are the same
figures whose will to compromise has mostly been lacking in recent
years.
Routine Clashes
McConnell,
72, and the president, 53, signaled some optimism for bipartisanship
after four years in which Obama and his Republican adversaries
clashed on almost every issue.
“There
are going to be areas where we do agree, on infrastructure, on making
sure that we’re boosting American exports,” Obama said at the White
House. “And part of my task then is to reach out to Republicans, make
sure that I’m listening to them.”
McConnell
in his news conference promised “no government shutdowns and no default
on the national debt,” referring to the brinkmanship over
the budget that marked last year. He said he and Obama spoke about
working on areas where they can agree, citing international trade and
tax-code revisions.
“I said, ‘Send us trade agreements,’” the senator said. “We’ll see whether we can work with the president. We hope so.”
Pipeline Approval
The
agenda described by McConnell and Boehner includes approval of
TransCanada Corp. (TRP)’s Keystone XL pipeline from Canada and
addressing
“the insanely complex tax code that is driving American jobs overseas.”
They described Obamacare as “hopelessly flawed” and said they wanted to
deal with an educational system that “denies choice to parents,” along
with “excessive regulations and frivolous
lawsuits.”
“We
will honor the voters’ trust by focusing, first, on jobs and the
economy,” they wrote. “Among other things, that means a renewed effort
to debate and vote on the many bills that passed the Republican-led
House in recent years with bipartisan support, but were never even
brought to a vote by the Democratic Senate majority.”
On
areas where Republicans and Obama disagree, McConnell said the Senate
will use its power over federal spending to reduce government regulation
and that it will use “a variety of different ways” to try to cut back
parts of Obama’s health-care law.
The
Senate Banking Committee also will consider revisions in the Dodd-Frank
law enacted after the 2008 financial crisis, which McConnell termed
“Obamacare for banks.”
Obama Meeting
The
president has invited congressional leaders from both parties to a
White House meeting tomorrow, in part to discuss items he wants to
finish
before the new Congress takes office in January. Among them is $6.2
billion in funds to stem the spread of Ebola and an authorization for
using military force against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.
Trade
may be the most promising area for agreement. Obama wants authority to
negotiate agreements, including the proposed 12-country Trans-Pacific
Partnership, and get up-or-down votes in Congress, without amendments.
The issue divides Democrats, who are reluctant to give up power to
modify accords that might disadvantage some U.S. workers
The
Pacific deal will be part of Obama’s discussions with Asian leaders
next week at summits in China, Myanmar and Australia. Companies such
as Oracle Corp. (ORCL), Kraft Foods (KRFT) Group Inc. (GS) and Dow
Chemical Co. (DOW) are part of a group pushing for the pact, which is
still being negotiated.
Tax Deal
The
path to an accord on taxes is tougher because lawmakers and the
administration disagree on the basic parameters, even before they get to
the details of which tax breaks to keep.
Obama
wants to focus on the business tax code, reducing the corporate rate
and using one-time revenue to pay for spending on infrastructure.
He wants to increase taxes on high-income individuals.
Republicans
have focused on tying individual and business-tax changes together and
oppose using a revamp of the tax code to raise revenue.
On other issues, including energy policy and the minimum wage, the gap between the parties is wide.
McConnell
said the Senate will take up approval of the Keystone XL pipeline as
part of a broader debate on policy that will “embrace the energy
revolution” in the U.S.
Obama
said an independent review by the administration, not congressional
action, will guide the process. He reiterated that the central question
for him is whether the project will cause a net increase in carbon
emissions.
“I’m just going to gather up the facts,” he said.
Productive Relationship
While
McConnell and Obama said they realize there will be confrontations,
Obama said he and McConnell can have a productive relationship.
“He
has always been very straightforward with me,” Obama said. “To his
credit, he has never made a promise that he couldn’t deliver.”
McConnell
called Obama the key figure in any potential bipartisan deals because
of his ability to veto legislation and to persuade Democratic
lawmakers to back him.
“There’s only one Democrat who counts -- the president,”
McConnell said. “He’s a player. That’s the way our system works.”
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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