GOP looking past Bush

A growing number of Senate Republicans are preparing to break from President Bush on an emergency war-spending bill.

It is the latest in a series of fights that demonstrate GOP willingness to look ahead to the next administration while ignoring the one still in office.

{mosads}Recognizing that the emergency measure will probably be the only spending bill approved before the November elections, many Republican senators say they are willing to add billions of dollars in domestic spending because the sagging economy is dominating the minds of voters.

Bush has firmly stated he would veto such a measure.

Senate Republican leaders are not confident they have the votes to sustain a filibuster if the bill includes some domestic spending without including timetables on withdrawing troops. Instead, they hope to derail it by letting it pass the chamber and then mustering enough votes to sustain a veto.

“At this point that’s probably going to be the more challenging in terms of determining where the Republican members are going to come down,” Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), chief deputy whip, said of domestic spending in the Iraq bill.

“Obviously, this is a train that is leaving the station,” said Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho), who sits on the Appropriations Committee. “It’s going to have a lot of pressure on it, and therefore [there is] a lot of pressure on the president.”

Having largely stood with Bush during the past seven years, Senate Republicans have started to break with the lame-duck president and focus on pushing through measures they could tout to their voters.

 On Tuesday, 46 Republicans voted with a united Democratic Caucus to suspend oil shipments to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, siding with their presumptive nominee, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and defying Bush, who is strongly opposed. Later this week, Republicans are expected to break from Bush again, and also defy McCain, to support a farm bill that is projected to cost around $600 billion over 10 years, possibly giving supporters enough votes to override another expected veto.

This comes as House Republicans are also moving away from Bush.

Thirty-nine GOP members, many targeted by Democrats this year, voted for Rep. Barney Frank’s (D-Mass.) housing bill last week. And 128 House Republicans in April voted to halt implementation of the Bush administration’s controversial Medicaid regulations.

A GOP lobbyist said campaign consultants are advising Republicans in tough races to start finding areas to break away from the White House and their congressional leaders.

The emergency supplemental bill will further test that loyalty to Bush. The White House has called on Congress to provide a clean emergency supplemental focused narrowly on the funding needs for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Bush asked for $178 billion through the first part of next year.

White House Press Secretary Dana Perino says that Congress should take up the domestic measures separately.

{mospagebreak}But both chambers are moving to do just the opposite. The House plans to consider a package later this week with domestic funding, war spending and a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq.

The Senate Appropriations Committee plans Thursday to mark up a $169 billion bill for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the upper chamber will almost certainly reject the troop-withdrawal timetable. The full Senate is expected to take up the measure on May 21. McCain wants to keep the bill “clean,” according to a spokesperson.

{mosads}The Senate bill also includes a number of domestic spending items that have the support of Republicans, including a 13-week extension of unemployment insurance, delay of seven controversial Medicaid rules, education assistance for veterans, $10.4 billion for Gulf Coast recovery, $490 million for state and local law enforcement grants, $451 million for the repair and reconstruction of roads and bridges, $275 million for drug and food safety and $400 million to prevent 7,000 school teachers in rural areas from being laid off.

The Gulf Coast recovery provision has strong support from Mississippi and Louisiana lawmakers, whose states were ravaged by hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.

Even though he opposes extending unemployment insurance, Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) said he would seriously consider backing a war-spending bill because of the reconstruction money. “I do think it’s appropriate, and I’m inclined to support that,” Vitter said of adding reconstruction funds to the supplemental.

On a similar note, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said: “My expectation at this point is that it is a package that I could support and that we could afford.”

Sen. Thad Cochran (Miss.), the ranking Republican on the Appropriations Committee, would not say how he would come down on a bill with domestic spending, but said he wanted to make sure the reconstruction money was included.

“I’ll look at them and judge them on their individual merits,” he said.

The provision to boost educational benefits under the GI Bill for veterans has become mired in election-year politics, but the supplemental could include a compromise on the issue, senators said Tuesday.

Adding the unemployment insurance extension could pick up the support of a number of Republicans facing tough reelection races this fall.

Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) said his support depends on what the final package looks like, but said he is “certainly” open to adding the unemployment benefits.

“I understand what [Bush] is trying to say, which is hold the line. Whether in fact a few things get in there and in the end we need to be more flexible, we’ll see at that time,” Coleman said.

Sen. Susan Collins (R), facing a tough reelection bid in Maine, said there are “some significant domestic needs because of the economy that I don’t think should be ignored,” including grants for firefighters and law enforcement.

Sen. Olympia Snowe, the other Maine Republican, said she “absolutely” wants to make sure the unemployment-benefits extension and delay in Medicaid rules are included on the supplemental spending bill. “If that is the fastest vehicle moving out of the station, then we ought to do it,” Snowe said of the supplemental.

Other senior Republicans echoed the sentiment of adding to the supplemental.

Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), an appropriator, said that he is “not on the side” of keeping the supplemental free of domestic spending, and Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.) said “there are some domestic spending” measures that should be added.

Republicans leaders recognize the conference may split from the president, but they say if the bill gets loaded up in committee, it will be easier for the GOP to reject. “The more things you put in the bill, the more chances you have of people voting against things,” said Sen. John Ensign (Nev.), the chief Senate GOP election strategist.

If Republicans cannot sustain a filibuster, they expect to have more than enough votes to sustain a veto, which requires the support of just 34 senators (sustaining a filibuster requires 41).

“Whatever we have to do to prevail, even if it is to sustain the president’s veto, we’ll do that,” said Senate Minority Whip  Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.).