Voters Divided On Compromise, Says Polling Expert

By Kyle LaFleur

With election results just two days old, legislative compromise and the message voters sent to Washington were the focus of a panel put together by CQ-Roll Call on Thursday.

According to panelist Carroll Doherty, who serves as the Associate Director of Editorial at the Pew Research Center, the main message sent by voters was their rejection to the expansion of government.  

Doherty said that exit polls revealed that 56% of voters believe government is leaning left in regard to policies affecting businesses and individuals, up from 43 percent in 2008. Additionally, figures show that two out of three voters said the Recovery Act (stimulus) had either a detrimental or non-existent effect on the economy.  

Voters were divided on the future of the nation, especially when the idea of bipartisanship was brought up.

“We tested the general proposition of compromise a couple months ago — this was well before the election and well before the Tea Party victories — and at that time 54 percent of Democrats were telling us they admired political leaders who compromised with people they disagree with,” said Doherty. “Republicans told us the opposite, 62 percent prefer political leaders who stick to their positions.”

With Republicans now in control of the House and Democrats holding on to a weakened majority in the Senate, compromise is needed moving forward to pass legislation. Without it, gridlock could be a recurring theme on Capitol Hill for the next two years.

Hoyer Blasts Early Adjourning Rumors

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer knocked down floating rumors that suggested members of Congress may be leaving Capitol Hill as early as Friday to hit the campaign trail. 

“I don’t know where that report came from and the answer is no,” Hoyer said. “We’re going to be in next week. I don’t want to speculate on dates other than we’re going to be in next week. We want to try to get our work done.”

Hoyer asserted that there are a few things left on Congress’ table that need to be resolved before leaving to their respective states. He reassured reporters that the House will indeed be in session next week and will be focusing on key legislation to incentivize small business hiring and to ensure that Continuing Resolution, a resolution that keeps the government funded beyond the fiscal year, is passed.

The Leader did defend, however, the necessity for members of Congress to return to their home states as elections draw nearer.

“There’s nobody here that doubts that our members, Republicans and Democrats, would like to be in their districts talking to their constituents,” he said. “After all, they have to ask them to be rehired.”

GOP Plans To Unveil New "Contract With America"

The Hill is reporting that the GOP, with prospects of regaining the majority in the House, is pulling a compilation of items from its “America Speaking Out” program to create an agenda before November’s elections.

Republicans plan to unveil a “Contract  with America” in Virginia Thursday as a response to Democratic criticism that the party is lacking an agenda.  

The new “contract” is said to include a two-year tax freeze and a reduction in spending to 2008 levels as hinted by House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio). Lawmakers on the right have also pushed for the repealing of healthcare reform, replacing it with a few reforms of their own and other GOP figures have also showed signs of repealing Wall Street reform as well. 

The GOP’s new “Contract with America” is said to be an attempt at reestablishing a 1994 “contract” that helped Republicans win the House and provided them with a base to hold the House majority until 2006. 

The unveiling of the new GOP agenda comes at crucial time and has led some Democrats to question why it took so long and argue that the timing is all too convenient.

A spokesman for Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) who chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee told The Hill that the GOP’s new agenda mirrors that which “caused the Great Bush Recession.”

“Washington Republicans are finally getting around to releasing an agenda for this Congress. What’s shocking is that it took them more than 20 months to repackage  a plan that is no different from the one that caused the Great Bush Recession,” he said. ” We have seen this movie before and the American people walked out on it, we don’t need a sequel.”

Democrats Attempt To Blur Line Between Tea Party And GOP

By Brandon Kosters - Talk Radio News Service

As November’s midterm elections approach, the Democratic Party is moving to link the GOP with the extreme elements of the Tea Party movement.

Speaking alongside a handful of Congressional Democrats at a press conference in the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters Wednesday, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said that in terms of policy, the GOP and the Tea Party are “one and the same.”

“Essentially, you don’t know where the Republican Party ends and the Tea Party begins,” Wasserman Shultz claimed.

While the Tea Party movement, essentially made up of a collection of conservative activists, has proven to be popular in some circles, it has at times walked a political tight rope. Tea Party favorites Sharron Angle (R) in Nevada and Rand Paul (R) in Kentucky both won their party’s Senatorial primaries due in part to their strict conservative platforms, but have taken a more moderate tone in recent months to garner centrist support.

The House Democrats who spoke at Wednesday’s conference criticized the Tea Party for their opposition to health care reform, Wall Street reform, the Environmental Protection Agency and the 17th Amendment to the Constitution, which gives citizens to directly elect their Senators.

“The Tea Party Republicans offer a retrograde, reactionary program for the American people that is extreme… [and] way out of the mainstream,” Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) said.