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.

Senate To Vote On Disclose Act Tomorrow

Despite losing key battles yesterday on repealing ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,’ and the DREAM Act, the Senate will attempt one more major vote on Thursday.

That’s the day Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has decided to bring the DISCLOSE Act to the floor. The bill, which the House passed in June, would require organizations involved in political campaigning to disclose the identity of their large donors and to reveal their identities in political ads they fund. It would also prohibit foreign corporations, government contractors and TARP recipients from making political donations.

The legislation was crafted in response to a Supreme Court decision in January that allowed corporations and unions to pay for political ads made independently of candidate campaigns.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), a staunch proponent of the bill, told reporters on Wednesday that unless the Disclose Act is passed, “the winner of every upcoming election this November won’t be Democrats or Republicans; It will be special interests.”

“Passing [the bill] would be a huge win for restoring transparency to our elections,” he added.

Addressing concerns that Democrats are attempting to rush the bill through to help preserve their majority in Congress, Schumer said the legislation would not go into effect until January, two months after the midterms take place. Earlier today, a story that appeared on Politico noted that Democrats are being outspent badly by groups supporting Republican candidates.

Interestingly, Reid decided to schedule the vote on Thursday instead of today partly because a number of Senate Democrats were expected to attend a big-ticket fundraiser this evening in Manhattan, at which the president would be speaking.

Disclose will probably be the last big vote taken in the Senate before members return home in two weeks to campaign for reelection. When asked whether the upper chamber would hold a vote on whether to extend the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, Schumer replied, “It’s being discussed within our caucus now.” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters yesterday that his chamber would wait for the Senate to act on the tax cuts.

Bipartisan Approach Key To Fixing Budget, Says OMB Nominee

By Kyle LaFleur - Talk Radio News Service

Jacob ‘Jack’ Lew, the president’s choice to become the next director of the Office of Management and Budget, told members of the Senate Budget Committee today that balancing the nation’s budget is going to take compromise and cooperation between parties, an effort he is well-equipped to facilitate.

Lew pointed to agreements he helped broker in 1990 between then-President George H.W. Bush and Democrats in Congress, and in 1997 between President Bill Clinton and the GOP as evidence of his ability to bridge gaps.

“Throughout my career I have tried to work collaboratively across partisan and ideological divides to cut through gridlocks and help solve what seem like intractable problems,” Lew said. “If confirmed as OMB Director, I will work in that bipartisan fashion again with the members of this committee, the leaders of both chambers and with all of those committed to taking constructive steps to rejuvenate our nation’s economy and our fiscal standing.”

If confirmed, Lew would replace Peter Orszag, who stepped down in June. With the nation’s debt approaching $14 trillion and unemployment at nearly 10%, Lew, who perviously served as OMB diretor during the Clinton administration, acknowledged that he has his work cut out for him.

“Our first task is to sustain and deepen the economic recovery to spur new job creation in the face of unsustainable budget deficits,” he said. “At the same time…it’ll take tough choices and putting partisanship aside to do what’s right for the country today, what’s right for our children and what’s right for our grandchildren.”

The battle over Lew’s confirmation is not expected to become too heated, with Republicans and Democrats alike expressing the willingness to support a familiar face.

“I believe Jack is a superb choice for this position,” said the committee’s chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.). “When I was asked by the White House my reaction, I told them I don’t think you can make a better choice then Jack Lew.” 

“He’s done it once, he’s here to do it again,” said the committee’s top Republican, Judd Gregg (R-N.H.).

White House Gaggle

By Deputy White House Press Secretary Bill Burton
Aboard Air Force One
En Route Seattle, Washington
 
9:17 A.M. PDT
 
     MR. BURTON:  Okay.  Welcome onboard Air Force One.  You all saw Secretary Locke is joining us today.  At his remarks at a small business in Seattle, the President will discuss the fact that the Senate is going to take on the small business bill when they come back into session and the importance of Republicans stopping their obstruction so that small business owners can get the assistance that they need as soon as humanly possible to create an environment where small businesses can be creating jobs and the economy can continue to grow.
 
With that, I’m happy to take any questions you might have.
 
Q    Hey, Bill, with all the campaigning the President is doing, how far is he willing to go in saying that he’s confident the House and Senate will stay Democratic?  Is he willing to guarantee it?  How confident is he?
 
MR. BURTON:  How far is he willing to go?  Interestingly put.  The President thinks that this election is a choice between the policies that move our country forward or the policies that got us to the crisis that we’re in right now.  But he’s confident that given that choice in the voting booths in November that Democrats will be successful and he does think that we will hold on to both the House and the Senate.
 
Q    So you think — so the White House’s feeling is that things are trending well right now; with all of these campaign stops it’s making a difference?
 
MR. BURTON:  Well, I’m not going to get into the punditry of it, but the President thinks that this is fundamentally a choice and it’s a choice where the Americans will choose to continue making progress.
 
Q    Is the President having fun on the campaign trail right now, considering every day the polls are beating him down, every day he’s getting a lot of backseat-driving advice?  Is this fun for him?
 
MR. BURTON:  The President has gotten a lot of advice from all corners ever since he started out on the campaign trail February 10, 2007.   But he appreciates the opportunity to go out there and make the case to the American people about what his policies have done to help make our economy stronger, what he’s done to make our country safer, and the choice that people have in this election between continuing on our economic policies, like the small business bill that he’ll be talking about today, that get more loans to small businesses; that cut — that end capital gains for their investments.  So he does enjoy making that case to the American people.
 
Q    Enjoying the campaign trail this week?
 
MR. BURTON:  He enjoys making the case.  He obviously would enjoy it more if he could spend more time with his family.  But I think that as one of the hats that he wears as the leader of the Democratic Party, as President of the United States, he does like going out and talking to the American people, hearing what’s on their minds and explaining how he sees the choice in this election.
 
Q    Can you talk about Senator Reid’s disagreeing with the President on the mosque issue?  Has the President spoken to him? Did Reid’s people give you guys a heads-up about that?  What was his reaction?
 
MR. BURTON:  We did have a sense that that’s what they were going to do.  But if you look at what the President said on Friday night, he respects the right of anybody — Democrat, Republican, independent — to disagree with his opinion on this. That’s one of the other fundamental rights written into the DNA  of our Constitution.
 
Senator Reid is a fiercely independent individual; it’s one of his strengths as a leader of the Democratic Party.  So the President feels completely fine that he might disagree.
 
Q    — you view Senator Reid and the President disagree on this issue?
 
MR. BURTON:  Well, the statements are different.  What the President said was that he thinks that there’s a fundamental right for individuals and groups to be treated equally.  But the President, like he said on Saturday, didn’t comment specifically on whether or not he was pushing for the site to actually to be put in that spot.  Senator Reid’s comment was he thinks that it shouldn’t be.
 
Q    So it is a different statement.  It’s a different statement — do they agree?  Do they disagree?
 
MR. BURTON:  I’ll leave it to the smart guys like you, Chuck, to decide whether or not that means disagreement or different statement or what’s up and what’s down.  But it’s a different take on this issue.
 
Q    — decide not to speak to the insurance commissioners today?
 
MR. BURTON:  Just postponed it for a month.
 
Q    Sorry, didn’t hear you.  What —
 
MR. BURTON:  Just postponed it for a month.
 
Q    Why?
 
MR. BURTON:  I just think that the President thought it was important to talk about small businesses and the importance of getting moving on that right when the Senate gets back.
 
Q    Can you comment on reports today that the President may announce loosening travel restrictions for groups to Cuba?
 
MR. BURTON:  Sure.  I’ve seen those reports and I don’t have anything new to announce.  But the President is going to continue to do things that are in the best interest of the United States and that help to create a more democratic environment and expand freedoms for the Cuban people.
 
Q    Some members of Congress are saying they did not get a heads-up about the mosque comments, even though the President spoke to Mayor Bloomberg.  Why not discuss this with the senators, or even Representative Gillibrand?
 
MR. BURTON:  I don’t know that the President spoke to Mayor Bloomberg — I don’t think that that’s accurate — about this beforehand.  We have very close relationships with our partners on Capitol Hill, and sometimes — we talk to them every day at different levels of the West Wing, but we take each issue on a case-by-case basis.  This wasn’t something that the President viewed through a political lens.  This is something that he saw as his obligation to address.  So there you go.
 
Q    Was the President briefed on the Iraq bombing this morning?
 
MR. BURTON:  Yes, made aware.  And the President condemns those attacks.  There are obviously still people who want to derail the advances that the Iraqi people have made towards democracy, but they are firmly on track and we’re confident that we’re moving towards the end of our combat mission there.
 
Q    — the work of al Qaeda in Iraq?
 
MR. BURTON:  I don’t know.  I would point you to the DOD for that.
 
Q    Given that attack and how bad it was and the fact that there’s still no government in Iraq, how can you — how can the United States go ahead, continue with its plans for the drawdown?
 
MR. BURTON:  The fact that, as the Vice President said, politics has broken out in Iraq is a good thing.  It means that democracy is thriving there already.  There’s a transitional government in place that’s functioning in a stable fashion, and we’re confident that they will be able to put together a government.  But that fact that there’s a lot of competition for who is going to be leading that country is a good thing.  It’s a political process at work.
 
     Q    So it’s not going to affect the schedule?  This kind of attack is not going to affect the U.S. schedule?
 
     MR. BURTON:  No.  We’re obviously helping the Iraqi forces to keep that country secure.  Our combat mission ends at the end of the month, but we will still have troops there who are helping to support them as necessary.
 
     Q    — preview tomorrow?
 
     MR. BURTON:  Tomorrow in Columbus, the President is going to be visiting with a middle-class family, where he’ll talk — I think it’s right at their kitchen table — about some of the concerns that they have about what — things are going on in the economy.  And then afterwards, he’ll go outside and have a conversation with some neighbors and folks from the community about questions and concerns that they have.
 
     Q    — a town hall?
 
     MR. BURTON:  But smaller.  More like a —
 
     Q    Will he take questions?
 
     MR. BURTON:  He will be taking questions, yes.
 
     Q    From — that will be folks in the community?
 
     MR. BURTON:  Yes.
 
     Q    How was the family chosen?
 
     MR. BURTON:  I think that our folks at the White House talked to local community leaders about finding an appropriate venue where such a conversation could take place.
 
     Q    Whose house is — who is hosting the fundraiser in Seattle today, the one at the private residence?
 
     MR. BURTON:  I don’t know.  I would check in with the Murray campaign on that.
 
     Q    The questions that he’ll have, it’s like a town hall we’ll be seeing?  Or he’ll just sit alone with them?
   
     MR. BURTON:  Yes, it will be town hall-style, but it will be pretty small — it will be like 40 people.
 
     Q    Okay, but we’ll be in there?
 
     MR. BURTON:  Yes.
 
     Q    Hey, Bill, I knock on wood as I ask this last one, but after this, the President goes off to Martha’s Vineyard.  Is his expectation that that is a genuine vacation?
 
     MR. BURTON:  The President is definitely going to spend a little time recharging his batteries.  I would, as the spokesman who’s going to go on that trip, encourage anybody else who’s going in the media to think that this is going to be the hardest that they will have ever have worked in their entire lives.  You’ll probably be working every day, early till late, maybe really early in the morning till really late at night, and over the weekend as well.  And you’ll probably never see outside of your bed and breakfast where you’ll be staying.
 
     Q    Don’t laugh.  Those of us in print — that was the schedule, actually.
 
     Q    And it was your fault.
 
     Q    And it was all your fault.
 
     Q    — your reverse psychology.
 
     MR. BURTON:  I’m just trying to set expectations appropriately.  I know what I said before the last time we went to Martha’s Vineyard and it turned out a little bit differently.
Just one last thing on this.  So a couple folks have asked me who all is going on the trip.  Valerie Jarrett will be out there, as well as Pete Rouse —
 
     Q    To Martha’s Vineyard?
 
     MR. BURTON:  Yes.  John Brennan will be on the trip.  I’ll be there doing spokesman duties.  And I think Denis McDonough is going to show up at some point to help out as well.
 
     Q    Do you have any other details about where they’re staying, what they’re doing, or who’s going with them for vacation purposes?
 
     MR. BURTON:  Not other than that, really.  I mean, as far as what they’re doing, I think it will be a lot like last year.  There will be some hiking, some time at the beach, some time at the ice cream store — all the sort of things you do when you’re at Martha’s Vineyard.  You enjoy the people and the good food.
 
     Q    Will he be playing golf?
 
     MR. BURTON:  Say that again?
 
     Q    Golf?
 
     MR. BURTON:  I don’t know.  You’ll just have to wait to see how it all shakes out.
 
     Q    They’re staying at the same house?
 
     MR. BURTON:  I’ll keep you posted on where they’re staying.
 
     Q    Any plans for a Thursday morning press conference before he leaves and he’s down for 10 days?
 
     MR. BURTON:  None that I know of.  (Laughter.)
 
Anything else?
 
     Q    What does the President think of the reaction to his comments on the mosque?  Has he been sort of — does he have his — he’s very critical sometimes of the news media.  Is he as critical on this one?
 
     MR. BURTON:  The President thinks that this is an issue that people are going to come to with strongly held opinions, and he respects the fact that they’re going to express them.  He doesn’t — he’s not surprised necessarily that a lot of people are coming out and talking about this forcefully.  So I would say that he’s happy that our thriving democracy is continuing to produce vigorous debate.
 
     Q    He’s not critical — this isn’t one of those moments where he thinks the media is doing something it shouldn’t do?
 
     MR. BURTON:  I don’t want to miss an opportunity to just criticize the media, but — (laughter.)  This is debate that’s just happening in the country.
 
     Q    Does he have any regrets about coming out and saying anything, given that it’s stoked the flames in this way?
 
     MR. BURTON:  No.  He felt it was his obligation to address this matter.
 
     Q    Thanks, Bill.
 
     MR. BURTON:  Thanks.
 
                                          END             9:29 A.M. PDT
 

Senate Suspends Recess, Passes Border Bill And Stevens Resolution

Suspending the August recess Thursday, the Senate passed a $600 million bill aimed at bolstering border security, as well as a resolution honoring former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, who died this week in a plane crash.

Both measures were passed with unanimous consent by the two Senators in the chamber, Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) decision to hold the mid-recess session followed a similar act by the lower-chamber earlier in the week. The House reconvened Monday to pass a $26 billion piece of legislation to provide federal aid to states in an effort to prevent lay-offs among teachers and other government employees.

The border security bill passed Thursday will fund the placement of an additional 1,500 enforcement officials at the U.S.-Mexico border and the implementation of additional surveillance drones.

With the completion of the vote, the Senate will be on recess until September 13th.