Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) was one of the biggest players on Capitol Hill during President George W. Bush’s two terms.
He skillfully moved Bush’s 2001 and 2003 tax cut bills to the president’s desk, along with trade and healthcare bills.
{mosads}But with nearly 60 Democrats in the Senate and President Obama residing in the White House, Grassley is not nearly as powerful as he used to be. Democrats passed a children’s healthcare bill, their budget measure and the economic stimulus without Grassley’s support.
Still, Obama wants Grassley’s backing on healthcare reform. Both Grassley and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) are scheduled to sit down with Obama at the White House on Wednesday.
The president has not yet been able to move a controversial bill through Congress with overwhelmingly bipartisan support. If healthcare reform is going to be bipartisan, Obama must convince Grassley to be on board.
Grassley has shown over the years that he is a legislator’s legislator, striking deals whenever possible. But the Iowan is no pushover. If the other side is not compromising, Grassley will walk away from the table.
The 75-year-old lawmaker, who is running for reelection next year, will leave his top GOP post on the Finance Committee in the next Congress for the Republican perch on the Judiciary Committee. As ranking member on Judiciary, Grassley will undoubtedly face off against the White House on judicial nominees.
But those battles are a long way off. For now, Obama and Grassley want to work together to revamp the nation’s ailing healthcare system.
Not all conservatives are on board, however. Some in the Senate GOP want to release their own healthcare reform alternative and start to contrast their solution to Obama’s. Grassley wants to hoald off, preferring to release it if and when bipartisan talks crumble.
During the 2003 Medicare prescription drug negotiations, some said Baucus and Grassley were literally inseparable. Staffers at the time said they were “married” on Medicare. Neither one would start a meeting unless the other was by his side.
Baucus infuriated many Democrats for backing that legislation. Grassley knows he may face friction from his Republican peers in the months to come.
Still, Grassley, an avid runner, is very comfortable in his own skin. And he doesn’t run from a fight.
Grassley doesn’t have the clout he used to on Capitol Hill, but if Obama wants to strike a bipartisan deal on healthcare, Grassley is the key.