Post by freespiritmuse on Jul 28, 2013 10:53:39 GMT -5
tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/07/obama-mccain-alliance.php?ref=fpb
The unlikeliest of alliances forged between two once-bitter rivals stands to upend the status quo of congressional gridlock and potentially resolve a bitter partisan chasm that has characterized the modern era of crisis governance.
Yes, President Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) are essentially working together against GOP leadership and the tea party to break the Senate out of its current situation and resolve major budget rifts that have plagued Washington for years.
McCain has emerged as a kingmaker of sorts in a chamber where various rank-and-file members of the Republican minority have lost their patience with leaders’ strategy of routinely blocking or slowing down legislation and high-profile nominees advanced by Democrats.
Most recently, he played a leading role in securing the confirmation of seven Obama nominees to run important departments and agencies. He was a seminal figure in writing and shepherding immigration reform through the chamber with a large bipartisan majority. He’s broken with nearly all other Republicans in saying his party shouldn’t filibuster Obama’s three nominees to fill vacancies on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. And he’s been actively pushing his members to stop blocking budget negotiations with the House.
Now, as the White House and members of Congress prepare for a potentially ugly battle to keep government open and continue paying its bills this fall, Democratic leaders see McCain as a pivotal figure in their effort to reach a compromise and force tea party conservatives to stop holding routine government funding and debt ceiling bills hostage. Some of them privately joke that he’s the new minority leader.
“Senator McCain is the Senate Republican leadership’s worst nightmare,” said a senior Democratic aide, who wasn’t authorized to speak on the record. “He is very interested in fixing sequestration, he has railed against the tax loopholes, he is clearly not afraid to defy them when he thinks it’s the right thing to do, and he takes 10 Republican members with him. We definitely see him as an important part of the path forward on a budget deal.”
The White House, meanwhile, told Politico recently that its aides talk to McCain about every other day. President Obama, who name-checked McCain when he thanked senators for approving immigration reform and his nominees, gave a nod Wednesday to the efforts the senator has led to ease gridlock.
“The good news is a growing number of Republican senators are looking to join their Democratic counterparts in trying to get things done,” Obama said during a major speech in Galesburg, Ill. aimed at framing the upcoming debates over the budget and debt limit.
The unlikeliest of alliances forged between two once-bitter rivals stands to upend the status quo of congressional gridlock and potentially resolve a bitter partisan chasm that has characterized the modern era of crisis governance.
Yes, President Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) are essentially working together against GOP leadership and the tea party to break the Senate out of its current situation and resolve major budget rifts that have plagued Washington for years.
McCain has emerged as a kingmaker of sorts in a chamber where various rank-and-file members of the Republican minority have lost their patience with leaders’ strategy of routinely blocking or slowing down legislation and high-profile nominees advanced by Democrats.
Most recently, he played a leading role in securing the confirmation of seven Obama nominees to run important departments and agencies. He was a seminal figure in writing and shepherding immigration reform through the chamber with a large bipartisan majority. He’s broken with nearly all other Republicans in saying his party shouldn’t filibuster Obama’s three nominees to fill vacancies on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. And he’s been actively pushing his members to stop blocking budget negotiations with the House.
Now, as the White House and members of Congress prepare for a potentially ugly battle to keep government open and continue paying its bills this fall, Democratic leaders see McCain as a pivotal figure in their effort to reach a compromise and force tea party conservatives to stop holding routine government funding and debt ceiling bills hostage. Some of them privately joke that he’s the new minority leader.
“Senator McCain is the Senate Republican leadership’s worst nightmare,” said a senior Democratic aide, who wasn’t authorized to speak on the record. “He is very interested in fixing sequestration, he has railed against the tax loopholes, he is clearly not afraid to defy them when he thinks it’s the right thing to do, and he takes 10 Republican members with him. We definitely see him as an important part of the path forward on a budget deal.”
The White House, meanwhile, told Politico recently that its aides talk to McCain about every other day. President Obama, who name-checked McCain when he thanked senators for approving immigration reform and his nominees, gave a nod Wednesday to the efforts the senator has led to ease gridlock.
“The good news is a growing number of Republican senators are looking to join their Democratic counterparts in trying to get things done,” Obama said during a major speech in Galesburg, Ill. aimed at framing the upcoming debates over the budget and debt limit.
