Senate takes its time
Monday, January 31, 2011
By: Scott Wong, POLITICO
The Senate is known for being the most deliberative body in the
world, but in the first month of 2011, the chamber hasn't even
bothered much with the deliberating part.
And it doesn't look like Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is
looking to step up the pace anytime soon.
There have been only six Senate votes so far this year. The primary
debate has been over arcane Senate rules reforms. The big
legislative agenda item this week is a Federal Aviation
Administration policy bill, and the Senate also may tackle a
yet-to-be-defined, small-business "innovation" bill.
While the Senate is notorious for slow starts, Reid is taking it to
a new extreme - he hasn't articulated a specific agenda of policy
goals, nor has he talked about any big-ticket legislative items.
Instead, the primary Senate political strategy seems to be
defensive, branding as "extremist" the agenda coming out of the new
House Republican majority.
Part of Reid's strategy is substantive - there's no reason for
Senate Democrats to pass an ambitious agenda that's dead on arrival
in a divided Congress, and the chamber is still weary from two
years of major policy combat over health care, financial reform and
economic stimulus. But more important, the entire Senate agenda
under Reid over the next two years has to be about protecting his
majority - and the 23 Democratic seats up for grabs in 2012. Those
Democrats, some from GOP-leaning states, want to face as few tough
votes going into next year's campaign cycle.
That may mean a lot of small ball in the Senate over the next two
years.
"You'll probably see more scaled-down, more focused legislation. I
just don't think there's the appetite for the bigger pieces of
legislation," Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), who is up for reelection next
year, told POLITICO. "When you have that many big pieces of
legislation over a rather short period of time - basically 18
months - it gets hard for a lot of taxpayers to digest it all and
feel that things are moving at a pace where they can absorb
it."
Reid's lack of a clear agenda for the Senate in 2011 also has left
the rest of his caucus without much field vision on party
priorities.
When asked what's on deck for the Senate, Majority Whip Dick Durbin
(D-Ill.) replied: "judges."
He then quickly added, "I don't know that we've made any agenda
decisions."
Ask five Democrats what issue Reid should turn to next, and you're
sure to get five different answers.
Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) wants Democrats to tackle tax loopholes
that incentivize firms to ship jobs overseas, while Sen. Sherrod
Brown (D-Ohio) says the Senate needs to renew legislation that
offers aid to workers who have lost their jobs or have had their
hours slashed.
A spending freeze is at the top of the list for moderate Sen.
Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.). And Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont
independent who caucuses with Democrats, said blocking House
Republicans from tampering with Social Security is crucial.
"Making sure - absolutely sure - we protect Social Security and
that we will beat back any efforts to privatize it or lower
benefits is enormously important," Sanders told POLITICO.
Meanwhile, it's no surprise Louisiana Democrat Sen. Mary Landrieu,
chairwoman of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship
Committee, wants to pursue legislation to reauthorize several
small-business programs - something Reid said he's open to.
"If we're about private-sector growth, about cutting back
government and strengthening the private sector, that will be done
by keeping a focus on small businesses," Landrieu said. "If we
spent time on that every week from now until the next six months,
it would probably help."
Aides insist that Democrats would firm up their legislative lineup
after their policy retreat in mid-February.
But Reid acknowledged that bills have slowed to a trickle, with
committee lineups finalized just last Thursday and committee
funding issues still unresolved.
They "haven't been able to begin their work. We're going to
continue to get more legislation out here," Reid said on the Senate
floor. "As senators know, we're going to vote a lot of Mondays and
Sundays during our work periods here, but we're just not in a
position to do that now."
Republicans are all too happy to jump on the "do nothing" label -
knowing full well that Republicans can block virtually anything
Reid puts on the Senate floor.
Democrats chose to prioritize "Senate chamber maintenance over
jobs" in the first month of the session, added John Ashbrook, a
spokesman for Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
"They'll have an opportunity to help on jobs soon," Ashbrook said,
"by voting to repeal the health spending law and fixing a problem
that job creators, big and small, identify as a huge impediment to
hiring."
But McConnell hasn't exactly helped accelerate action in the
Senate. An attempt at filibuster reform triggered a three-week
standoff over how far to go in changing Senate rules, eventually
leading to a modest bipartisan agreement on minor changes - but
preservation of the filibuster.
The outlook from Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) - who is ostensibly in
charge of both policy and message for Democrats - is telling.
When asked about the legislative calendar, Schumer declined to
comment.
But he has launched an aggressive assault on House Republican
ideas: from their attempt to repeal the health care law, to their
proposed cuts, to domestic spending.
Most recently, Schumer has been warning against GOP threats to
seniors and retirees. Gesturing in front of a bank of television
cameras, late last week, he bashed elements of House Budget
Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's "Roadmap for America's
Future."
"They want to privatize Social Security. Privatize equals end - no
more," Schumer said. "They are going to take Paul Ryan's blueprint
and use it - that's privatizing Medicare, giving them vouchers.
They are going to do the same for Social Security. Their agenda:
privatize both programs, which means end them."
And how will the Senate help carry out President Barack Obama's
newly centrist agenda?
"I think he'll try to do a lot with the tools he already has
available," said Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), a member of the
Appropriations subcommittee on education issues. "You're going to
see the process go forward at the committees, the hearings. But the
question I think we all have is at the end of the day, can you
reconcile the version the House might pass with the one that we'd
be passing?"