PRESIDENT ACCUSES DEMOCRATS OF ACHIEVING LITTLE AT CAPITOL
By Sheryl Gay Stolberg
New York Times, NY
Oct 18 2007
WASHINGTON, Oct. 17 – A year after he pledged to find "common ground"
with the Democrats who now control Congress, President Bush on
Wednesday delivered a scathing assessment of their performance,
accusing lawmakers of dragging their feet on legislation ranging
from trade deals and domestic surveillance to federal spending and
children’s health.
"We’re now more than halfway through October, and the new leaders in
Congress have had more than nine months to get things done for the
American people," Mr. Bush said in his opening remarks at a White
House news conference. "Unfortunately, they haven’t managed to pass
many important bills. Now the clock is winding down, and in some key
areas Congress is just getting started."
The news conference was timed to coincide with a showdown between
Mr. Bush and Congressional Democrats over federal spending and a
children’s health measure he has vetoed. At one point, the president
complained bitterly that Democrats had failed to negotiate with him
over the health bill, a different version of which had been advanced
by the administration in its budget.
"We weren’t dialed in," he said, adding that he was using his veto
pen because "that’s one way to ensure that I am relevant."
The remark echoed one by Mr. Bush’s immediate predecessor, Bill
Clinton, who proclaimed after Republicans took control of the House
in 1995 that "the president is still relevant here." It was especially
striking coming from Mr. Bush, who often insists, as he did Wednesday,
that he is going to "sprint to the finish" of his presidency.
When pressed about whether he felt he was losing leverage on Capitol
Hill, the president quickly disagreed.
"Quite the contrary," he said. "I’ve never felt more engaged."
On Wednesday, getting engaged meant dressing down Democrats,
with whom Mr. Bush is at odds over a host of domestic measures. In
addition to the children’s health legislation, he has threatened to
veto at least 10 of the 12 spending bills that were supposed to have
been enacted by Sept. 30 to finance government operations in the new
fiscal year. And while he said he still thought he could find common
ground with Democrats, he also took swipes at them for having so far
failed to send any of those bills to his desk.
"I think it’s their fault the bills aren’t moving," Mr. Bush said at
one point. At another, he asked, "How can you find common ground when
there’s no appropriations process?"
The House is expected to try on Thursday to override the veto of
the children’s health bill. The president predicted – and Democrats
agree – that the effort will be unsuccessful. Mr. Bush said he was
"confident we can work out our differences" on the bill, adding that
"now is the time to put politics aside."
Yet in the next breath, he offered a list of areas where Congress "has
work to do," including the budget, domestic surveillance, education,
housing, trade, veterans’ care and the confirmation of judicial
nominees. He finished by accusing lawmakers of meddling where they
did not belong, with a proposed House resolution condemning Turkey
for the mass killing of Armenians nearly a century ago.
"With all these pressing responsibilities," Mr. Bush said, "one thing
Congress should not be doing is sorting out the historical record of
the Ottoman Empire."
The remarks were a distinct turnabout from the promises to reach out
that the president made after last year’s midterm elections.
Democrats, in turn, reacted angrily.
"There is no better example of why Washington is not working for the
American people than the president claiming to seek common ground
at the same time he is bitterly attacking Congress," Speaker Nancy
Pelosi said in a statement.
A little more than an hour after the news conference ended, Mr. Bush
and Ms. Pelosi stood side by side, shaking hands politely as they
greeted each other at a ceremony to award the Congressional Gold
Medal to the Dalai Lama.