President Barack Obama’s sometimes uneasy relationship with the Democratic-led Congress faces crucial tests in the coming weeks, with key priorities pending and a Supreme Court nominee yet to come.
On a number of issues — including the recent flare-up over closing Guantanamo Bay prison — the administration is renewing pledges to work with lawmakers.
“I have always believed that it is better to talk than not to talk, that it is far more productive to reach over a divide than to shake your fist across it,” Obama said recently. “This has been an alien notion in Washington for far too long.”
Congress is on Memorial Day recess for two weeks, which means that Obama has a clear field if he chooses to announce his nominee to the high court. With members scattered from Washington, the administration may also get a respite from defending Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from calls to resign. It’s a short breather in a relationship that has proven more fraught than expected since the administration came to power boasting two former senators at the very top and former lawmakers and congressional staffers in key positions.
“Having a chief of staff [Rahm Emanuel] who was in Congress, in the leadership, helps him a great deal,” said Matt Mackowiak, a Republican strategist and former Senate staff member. “You always hear stories about Rahm giving out his personal cell number to members and working on outreach.”
For all their numbers, Democrats in Congress are far from rubber-stamping Obama’s agenda. They contravened his wishes on tax policy, farm subsidies, earmarks and more. And they may force him to accept compromises on pollution, health care and the budget.
A key administration strategy for dealing with Congress has been to lay out broad principles, and give lawmakers latitude to fill in the details, for example on stimulus, cap-and-trade, and stem cell legislation.
His most recent flare-up with Congress, over closing Guantanamo Bay prison, came when Obama changed course by signing a unilateral executive order and asked Congress for $80 million to pay for it.
When Congress comes back from recess, lawmakers are expected to tackle issues including funding the president’s budget, working out details on health care reform and deciding whether to move ahead on immigration reform, among others.
Whether the president has a battle over his Supreme Court vacancy depends largely on who he picks to fill it. Already, Obama has been clearing a path by meeting with key senators including Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“What I told him at the time is really the only thing that he could do to guarantee a big fight would be to try to jam through a nominee, not allow us to do our job,” Cornyn said.
