McConnell tries to cover Bush’s tracks

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Wednesday that President Bush’s criticism of a Senate housing bill does not amount to a veto threat.

McConnell clarified remarks made Tuesday by administration officials following a rare joint strategy session between Bush and congressional leaders from both parties devoted to the foundering U.S. economy.

{mosads}During that meeting, McConnell said, the president reassured the leaders that he is not immovably opposed to the bill. That was news to several GOP senators, who voiced objections to what had been perceived as a White House veto threat.

“We’re going to have a bill that will be approved on a bipartisan basis,” McConnell said. “I think we’ll all negotiate to see if we can come up with something that’s mutually agreeable.”

The housing bill and the economy was the main agenda before Bush, McConnell, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), Senate Minority Leader Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-Ill).

Though lawmakers described the meeting as positive, they didn’t waste time shifting the tone by criticizing the administration in talks with reporters outside the White House. Bush’s controversial move in sending Congress a Colombia free trade agreement on Tuesday, for example, brought a clear threat from Pelosi that she won’t allow a vote on the agreement until Bush bends on the Democratic economic agenda.

McConnell, Kyl and Boehner each tied the Colombia agreement to the economy, with McConnell calling it “a no-brainer” and Boehner criticizing House Democrats’ economic wish list as “so long I lost track.”

The familiar fault line of tax cuts also emerged, with Boehner critical of the Democratic tax package of curbing tax breaks as a “$686 billion tax increase.”

Reid and Pelosi struck back. Pelosi said Democrats won’t bend to Bush without compromise from the administration on the party’s economic agenda. Senate Democrats, for example, have been forced to remove a key housing bill provision that revises bankruptcy laws because Republicans and the White House object to it. The administration is also opposed to Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds that the Senate housing bill would disburse to local communities, as well as tax credits for Americans who buy a new or foreclosed home.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto said McConnell’s read of Bush’s stance on the housing bill is accurate, clarifying that the president has not threatened a veto. However, he also emphasized that the administration will insist on changes to the bill currently pending in the Senate.

“The only time there is such a thing as a veto threat is when we use the word ‘veto,’ ” Fratto said. “But it’s not particularly likely that the legislation that’s up there right now will be the legislation that ends up on the president’s desk.”

Fratto also called Pelosi’s threat on the Colombia trade agreement counter-productive.

“It is awful policymaking to renege on agreements, offend your allies and hold an agreement that benefits America hostage to partisan politics,” he said.

But the administration’s criticism of the housing bill Tuesday did catch Republican senators by surprise, and several members on Wednesday acknowledged frustration that the party appears split on such a critical issue facing the country.

“We were caught a little off-guard, but the depth and scope of this crisis is such that reasonable folks will figure out a path,” said Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) “We did it with the stimulus bill. Hopefully that wasn’t a one-time occasion.”

Other criticism came from Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), who said the mixed message was “counter-productive” and that the GOP runs a risk of being perceived as minimalists during the November elections.

“It’s a legitimate concern and a fair question, because this crisis is so widespread across all credit markets,” she said. “We’ve got to be responsive to that.”

Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, went further, calling the veto hint “amateurish” because Republican leaders in Congress weren’t notified beforehand.

“I used to be on the White House staff, and if I’d announced a view on an important piece of legislation without notifying the Republican leadership, I would have been demoted swiftly,” Alexander said.