As elections loom, GOP grows divided over Bush agenda
WASHINGTON -- Faced with the prospect of a once-unthinkable defeat on a key legislative priority, House Republican leaders yesterday did something quite unusual for a caucus that cherishes party loyalty: They pleaded with Democrats to vote for their bill.
''Put partisan politics aside," Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the Republicans' chief deputy whip, said at a press conference held to persuade conservative Democrats to support a budget-cutting measure.
It was the kind of appeal that was impossible to imagine back when Representative Tom DeLay was House majority leader. The fiercely partisan Texas Republican relied on a brimming chest of threats and treats to get even the most politically difficult measures through the House on the strength of Republican votes alone.
But with DeLay forced to step down from his leadership post while under indictment, the Republican juggernaut that has defined the House of Representatives for the past 11 years has slowed considerably. The House, long the site of clockwork Republican victories, is now deeply divided as members begin worrying about their 2006 reelection prospects.
Against the backdrop of ethical misdeeds and President Bush's plunging popularity, an increasing number of House Republicans are expressing unease about putting their political careers on the line for the Bush agenda.
Bush ''is either going to get the message now, or he's going to get the message after the next election, when a lot of us aren't back," said Representative Christopher Shays, a Connecticut Republican.
Top House Republicans face perhaps the biggest challenge to their leadership tomorrow, when they're scheduled to bring a $54 billion package of spending cuts to the floor. Crafted after demands from conservatives for fiscal discipline, the bill would cut a wide swath through programs such as Medicaid, food stamps, and student loans.
The measure would also authorize oil drilling at the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and oil exploration on sites on the Outer Continental Shelf. That measure would lower barriers to drilling on Georges Bank and other sites along the nation's coast by providing financial incentives to states to allow drilling off their coastlines.
Democratic leaders say all of their members will vote against the bill, in part because Republicans intend to follow the spending cuts with a $70 billion tax-cut measure. And the combination of cuts to social programs and tax cuts that would benefit the wealthy is too much for some Republicans to swallow.
''I don't believe in euthanasia," said Representative Sherwood L. Boehlert, a Republican from New York who serves as chairman of the House Science Committee. ''What the leadership is proposing is a package that would contribute to the orderly demise of the Republican Party."
Twenty Republican moderates met over dinner Monday to discuss strategies for voicing their opposition, with about half of the group saying they are definitely going to vote against the budget bill, according to House members who were at the meeting. Republicans hold only a 15-seat majority in the House, meaning they can afford few defections.
Moderates' misgivings could shatter the formula Republicans have used to push their agenda in recent years: Win in the House to get momentum to drive bills through the Senate. With Democrats hoping to pick up seats in the 2006 congressional races, early troubles in the House could make it even more difficult for Republicans to govern through the rest of Bush's term, said Julian Zelizer, a congressional historian at Boston University.
House majority whip Roy Blunt, who has taken over DeLay's duties as majority leader while DeLay fights criminal charges, said he believes he'll be able to squeeze out enough support to pass the budget cuts. But he acknowledged that the leaders' power over rank-and-file members has its limits.
''Eventually we're going to take something to the floor that is a test of the members more than we intended to test the members, because that's just going to happen," said Blunt, a Missouri Republican. ''I'm convinced that we're going to be fine when we take this to the floor on Thursday. But hard things to do are hard."
The oil drilling provisions have proven to be particularly controversial, and more than two dozen Republicans are asking that they be stripped from the bill. Representatives Charles Bass and Jeb Bradley, both Republicans of New Hampshire, are withholding their support of the budget bill because it authorizes drilling in the Alaska wildlife preserve.
Bush's popularity in New Hampshire has plummeted to 39 percent, according to a poll released this week. Rank-and-file Republicans are unhappy with the way their representatives are running Washington, Bass said, making GOP representatives more likely to defy their leaders.
''It's not because of a lack of leadership. It's because of a lack of confidence" in the way the GOP majority is handling the budget and other matters, said Bass, who added that he may vote against the budget bill even if the Alaska drilling provision is removed. ''Why do [lawmakers] want to support a process they really can't defend at home?"
