Lawmakers warned off compromise

House and Senate leaders are cautiously weighing how to proceed on legislation in the post-election session as lawmakers in both parties come under increasing pressure to resist compromises on taxes and spending.
During a rally Monday on the Capitol grounds, the conservative group Americans for Prosperity told Republicans to block an omnibus fiscal 2011 appropriations package and demand a permanent extension of expiring tax rates for all taxpayers during the lame-duck session.
“There must be no compromise on preventing a tax increase on any American,” House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence of Indiana said at the event.
Democratic lawmakers are under pressure from liberal groups to allow upper-bracket income tax rates to increase and extend a program providing extra unemployment benefits.
The liberal Campaign for America’s Future, MoveOn.org and labor unions want Democrats to block the extension of tax rates enacted in 2001 and 2003 (PL 107-17, PL 108-27) for individuals earning more than $200,000 and couples making more than $250,000. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka called an extension of the tax rates for wealthy taxpayers “absolute insanity.”
With no sign of any post-election consensus, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., have held off on setting any firm agenda for the remainder of the 111th Congress, at least until after Tuesday’s caucus meetings with rank-and-file lawmakers returning from the six-week election recess.
Democratic and Republican congressional leaders will also discuss pending legislation with President Obama during a Nov. 18 White House meeting. The meetings will help set the stage for legislative action after the House and Senate leave town again for a week-long Thanksgiving break and reconvene Nov. 29 for a final push.
House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., said Monday that the strategy for dealing with taxes and appropriations will hinge on discussions between House leaders and Reid, and that much will depend on what Reid “thinks is possible” in the Senate.
After a Monday meeting of the House Democratic leadership team, Hoyer said several options are being considered, including a proposal to increase the family income cutoff for tax rate extensions from $250,000 to $1 million.
Hoyer said the House will not act until it sees if the Senate votes to extend unemployment benefits and to block a scheduled reduction in payments to doctors treating Medicare patients. The 23 percent cut in the Medicare physician reimbursements and expiration of the extended unemployment benefits are both scheduled for Nov. 30.
The only other legislation likely to see House action this week is a bill intended to encourage federal telework (HR 1722).
Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who was in the Capitol on Monday to swear in two new Democratic senators, said he would meet with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., late Monday to discuss the lame-duck agenda. “I’m not concerned,” Biden said. “We’ve got a lot to get done, and we have to get it done.”
Reid said Monday that the stalled economy will remain the primary focus of the chamber’s activity during the lame-duck session, but he provided no specific agenda.
“I will work with my caucus and with Sen. McConnell, who will, of course, work with his caucus,” Reid said in a Senate floor speech. “We will see what we can get done before the start of the 112th Congress in January.”
The Senate will not be in session Tuesday. Democratic and Republican senators and their newly elected colleagues will meet in the morning to elect leadership teams for the 112th Congress. The current top leaders are all expected to keep their jobs.
Both parties will hold regular policy luncheons, at which they will likely discuss their strategy for dealing with taxes, spending and other matters during the lame-duck session. The first Senate votes are expected Wednesday.
House Democrats and Republicans will not elect their leadership teams until Wednesday, but the two caucuses will meet separately Tuesday — the Republicans in the morning and the Democrats at noon — to discuss the legislative agenda. The House will vote on bills under suspension of the rules.
Interest Groups Make Their Case
Although the campaign season recently ended, interest groups have mobilized once again in an effort to convince lawmakers to press various liberal or conservative causes.
Conservative activists at the Monday rally threatened to mount primary challenges against Republicans who vote for an omnibus spending bill or against a moratorium on earmarks that House and Senate Republicans will consider at their organizational meetings this week.
The first challenge for the activists would be to have the secret balloting on the latter issue made public.
A few hours after the rally, McConnell announced his support for the earmark ban, all but ensuring its adoption for the Republicans on Tuesday. A veteran member of the Appropriations Committee, McConnell previously expressed skepticism about a ban on earmarks.
On the Democratic side, Pelosi is under pressure from members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to push through the House a bill known as the DREAM Act (HR 1751, S 729), which would create a path to citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants who attend college or join the military.
Xavier Becerra of California, the Democratic Caucus vice chairman, said House action will probably depend on whether the Senate will act on the bill as well. No House vote is expected before Thanksgiving, he said.
The uncertainty surrounding legislative action during the remainder of the 111th is leaving individuals and businesses uncertain about their tax rates for next year.
Sen. Thomas R. Carper, D-Del., said the question marks about tax policy, the budget, energy and infrastructure development are keeping companies from hiring new workers.
“My hope is we can somehow find some common ground in the next month or so on some of these fronts to eliminate some of the uncertainty,” he said. “Less uncertainty, more predictability, more job creation.”
The senators sworn in Monday were Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va., and Chris Coons, D-Del., winners of Nov. 2 special elections.
Republican winners of House special elections in Indiana and New York are scheduled to be sworn in Tuesday, although Tom Reed of New York might not take his oath until Wednesday because of minor health problems.
Reed is filling the seat formerly held by Democrat Eric Massa, while Marlin Stutzman will take the Indiana seat vacated by Republican Mark Souder. Massa and Souder resigned earlier this year.
-- Brian Friel, Alan Ota and Sam Goldfarb, CQ Staff