New Congress makes compromise crucial for Obama

WASHINGTON — Nearly a decade ago, a little-known Republican lawmaker sat down with a self-proclaimed liberal Democrat and negotiated the most sweeping overhaul of federal education policy in a generation.When the new Congress starts work Wednesday, that Republican, John Boehner, will become speaker of the House. Ten years after he and then-senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts advanced the "No Child Left Behind" law, Boehner's party faces a similar challenge: Can it honor its conservative values but also find common ground with Democrats on major legislation?

The answer to that question — bipartisanship or battleground — will determine whether lawmakers in the next Congress can work with President Obama to address soaring deficits and a stubbornly high unemployment rate, or whether they are doomed to have gridlock as the politics of the 2012 presidential and congressional elections take over.

"The country faces enormous problems," Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., says. "Bipartisanship is necessary if we're going to get anything done."

Congress finished a surprisingly productive "lame duck" session last month, in which lawmakers extended tax cuts for millions of Americans, repealed the ban on gays serving openly in the military and ratified a nuclear arms treaty with Russia. The debates were contentious, but Obama ultimately secured bipartisan support for much of his agenda.

He did so, in part, through compromise: The White House negotiated directly with Republicans on extending Bush-era tax cuts and agreed to continue the cuts for high-earners, which Obama had opposed, to win enough support to keep the cuts in place for the middle class.

Those opportunities may be harder to find in the 112th Congress. Republicans captured control of the House in the November elections, picking up 63 seats and expanding their majority to 242 out 435 seats. Many incoming Republicans, such as Florida's Allen West and Idaho's Raul Labrador, support the conservative, anti-tax Tea Party movement and ran against Obama's policies.

Democrats kept control of the 100-seat Senate, but their majority shrunk by six to 53 members.

The path to a deadlocked Congress is easy to see. House Republicans want to repeal the nation's new health care law — a guaranteed flashpoint with Democrats. The law provides insurance to 32 million more Americans, but Boehner criticizes its cost and a requirement that nearly everyone buy health coverage.

As the national debt approaches $14 trillion, lawmakers also must decide whether to raise the $14.3 trillion cap on government borrowing — a controversial task that usually falls to the party in power. Republicans made trimming budget deficits and slashing spending a centerpiece of the 2010 election.

"Anything of substance is almost by definition going to be divisive," predicts Mike Franc of the conservative Heritage Foundation.

Ugly fights are inevitable, but a few other major proposals waiting in the legislative queue offer some openings for bipartisan deals on par with what Boehner, Kennedy and others accomplished with the federal education overhaul in 2001.

Republicans and Democrats have an opportunity to leave a mark on high-profile legislation in the next Congress — from updating that same 2001 education law, which members of both parties say includes unrealistic deadlines, to rewriting the federal tax code, one step in addressing the nation's spiraling debt. Lawmakers and analysts also see the potential for breakthroughs on a free trade agreement with Korea and a multibillion-dollar farm bill.

"When stuff gets done, a rising tide lifts all boats," says Jim Kessler with the centrist Democratic think tank Third Way. "That helps Republicans, too."

A focus on education

Boehner, then chairman of the House education committee, spent days negotiating with Democrats over the final details of the education law in 2001. The law, a priority for then-President George W. Bush, pushes school improvements through annual testing in reading and math.

Now the Obama administration wants significant changes to the law during the next Congress, and at least some of what's proposed has bipartisan support.

"No matter who you talk to — parents and teachers, superintendents and governors, Republicans and Democrats — everyone agrees this law needs reform," says Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., the incoming chairman of the House education committee. "My goal is to pull back federal involvement in the day-to-day operation of our classrooms."

The current law sets a 2014 deadline for all students to be "proficient" in math and reading. Both Democrats, such as Obama, and Republicans, such as Kline, say the target is unrealistic.

In February, Democrats and Republicans on the education committee signed a letter agreeing to take a bipartisan approach to updating the law. But that was before an election in which some Republican candidates, such as Sen.-elect Rand Paul of Kentucky, said they favor abolishing the U.S. Department of Education. Paul was one of dozens of successful candidates embraced by the conservative Tea Party movement, which defined the 2010 election by calling for a more limited government.

"People will be paying attention and looking to it as a bellwether" for what the next Congress will accomplish, says Russ Whitehurst, an education specialist at the Brookings Institution. "It's going to be on the agenda."

Trade agreement ready

Before the first gavel falls in the new Congress, Republicans and the Obama administration will have one bipartisan deal poised to move quickly: a free trade agreement with South Korea.

The agreement, which Obama and Korean leaders announced last month, would boost U.S. exports by $11 billion annually, according to the non-partisan U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). The deal has support from many Republicans, such as Rep. Dave Camp, as well as some Democrats, including Rep. Sander Levin — both from Michigan.

"The rules of engagement on trade in Asia are being set as we speak," says Tami Overby with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which supports the deal. "While we're not doing anything, the rest of the world is moving forward."

An earlier version of the pact, which must be approved by both the House and Senate, was negotiated by President George W. Bush. Obama won new provisions that make it easier for U.S. auto companies to export vehicles but temporarily keep tariffs in place on Korean auto imports.

Some Democrats, including Rep. George Miller of California, say the agreement would undermine manufacturing jobs by lifting import tariffs in other sectors even as the nation's unemployment rate has climbed to 9.8%. The ITC said the agreement would have a "negligible" effect on employment.

"Our folks feel pretty strongly that this is the wrong deal at the wrong time," says Thea Lee with the AFL-CIO, a lead opponent of the deal.

Changing the tax code

In the "lame duck" session of Congress, lawmakers fought for weeks over $858 billion in Bush-era tax cut extensions. But deficit hawks such as Maya MacGuineas say the messy, bitter debate largely was beside the point.

The real problem is an overly complex tax code that carves out $1.1 trillion a year for special interests and includes loopholes for corporations, says MacGuineas, president of the non-profitCommittee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Fix the tax code, she says, and Washington might be able to lower tax rates for everyone.

"There's no question that tax reform will get started in earnest" in 2011, MacGuineas predicts.

A bipartisan deficit commission created by Obama recommended a major overhaul of the nation's tax code, including the elimination of carve-outs for specific industries such as coal mining and railroads. Among the largest exemptions, though, are breaks on mortgage interest and employer-provided health insurance.

Though the details will provoke debate, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle share broad goals.

"What we need is a comprehensive reform of the tax code that expands the tax base and lowers rates by being fairer," says Camp, the incoming chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, which will oversee the effort in the House.

In the Senate, changes to the tax code would be led by Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont. "There are few examples of a more direct interaction between Americans and their government than paying taxes," Baucus said in a statement. "So it should not take a post-graduate degree to figure it all out."

Cut farm subsidies?

Many incoming Republicans ran for office on a platform of slashing spending. But a few new GOP lawmakers personally benefited from one of the government's most controversial aid programs: farm subsidies.

Rep.-elect Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo., a Tea Party favorite, collected more than $774,000 in farm subsidies from 1995 to 2009 for a farm she owns with her family, according to Environmental Working Group (EWG), a non-profit that opposes the aid. Rep.-elect Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., received nearly $1 million. Stutzman has said he favors eliminating the subsidies while Hartzler has defended them. Both were assigned to the House Agriculture Committee, which oversees the farm bill.

Bipartisan acceptance of farm subsidies, particularly among rural delegations, underscores the debate that often plays out as the multibillion farm bill works its way through Congress: Subsidies are easy to criticize, but also are easy to dole out.

The farm bill approved in 2008, which also pays for food stamps and other non-farm assistance, expires in 2013. That means lawmakers could start wrestling with the subsidies and other issues in this Congress.

"I just see a lot of grounds here for compromise," says Dan Glickman, who served as the secretary of agriculture under President Clinton and is now with the Bipartisan Policy Center. "This affects every consumer."

Sen. Saxby Chambliss, of Georgia, the top-ranking Republican on the Senate's agriculture committee, says he expects some Republicans and Democrats to target farm subsidies for cuts. But he says he thinks lawmakers can find a compromise.

First, Chambliss warns, lawmakers must put the partisan rhetoric in check.

"I'm hopeful that the atmosphere is going to be much more positive when we get back," he says. "Right now, it's headed in the opposite direction."

New lawmakers set to make their mark

When Congress returns Wednesday, it will include 94 new members of the House of Representatives and 16 new senators. Here?s a look at some of the new lawmakers who are rising stars in their party or have been appointed to key committees for the 112th Congress:

Sen.-elect Marco Rubio, R-Fla.

Age: 39

Election highlight: Beat independent Gov. Charlie Crist 49% to 30%.

What to watch: The young, Hispanic former state lawmaker was named by RealClearPolitics as the top rising star in the new Congress.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.

Age: 63

Election highlight: Won the seat long held by the late Robert Byrd.

What to watch: Manchin, who took his seat in November, will chart his own course. He recently bucked his party by opposing the repeal of the ban against gays serving openly in the military.

Sen.-elect Rand Paul, R-Ky.

Age: 47

Election highlight: In his state's primary, beat a candidate supported by Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, also of Kentucky.

What to watch: Paul, the son of Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, became a hero of the anti-tax Tea Party movement, setting him up as a conservative standard bearer.

Rep.-elect Alan Nunnelee, R-Miss.

Age: 52

Election highlight: Knocked off incumbent Democrat Travis Childers.

What to watch: He was named to the powerful Appropriations Committee at the center of Republican efforts to trim federal spending.

Rep.-elect Allen West, R-Fla.

Age: 49

Election highlight: First black Republican elected to Congress from Florida in more than a century.

What to watch: An Iraq veteran, West will sit on the House Armed Services Committee as the U.S. fights in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Rep.-elect Kristi Noem, R-S.D.

Age: 39

Election highlight: Backed by Sarah Palin, Noem beat Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, leader of the centrist-Democrat Blue Dog Coalition.

What to watch: Appointed to the House education committee, Noem will have a hand in efforts to update the "No Child Left Behind" education law.

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