House Speaker rips White House; Rep. Caucus applauds

May 13, 2004
Hastert rips White House
Caucus applauds as Speaker voices his frustrations
By Jonathan E. Kaplan

Republicans on the Hill are so frustrated with the White House that when Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) criticized the administration at a House GOP meeting last week, the caucus burst into applause.

The meeting was only the latest sign in an accumulating body of evidence that lawmakers are unhappy with the way the administration treats them.

One GOP lawmaker at the caucus meeting said Hastert "expressed outright dismay with the White House staff for the way the transportation bill had been handled. They did not give the priority necessary to the issue in resolving it as the Speaker had wanted. It's in absolute limbo."

A rank-and-file lawmaker said: "Hastert was frustrated and disappointed that he had not been dealt with openly and fairly and given accurate information. He was not so much speaking to the conference as he was speaking for the conference."

The catalog of GOP complaints against the executive branch is long. A senior Republican House member said his colleagues frequently disparqage the White House communications team, particularly on articulating its policy in Iraq.

He said there was frustration about a lack of White House effort in pushing the FSC/ETI bill, designed to replace corporate subsidies with tax breaks.

And in March, the Speaker told The Hill that the White House was doing a poor job selling its economic policies.

The are also widespread complaints among lawmakers that the administration's message machine is out of sync. When, for example, the House passed a bill in March raising penalties for violence against pregnant woman, the White House dimished the political impact by trumping it with the announcement that it would support a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, even though key House leaders were not on board.

Behind the scenes, the White House is making it clear that it is less concerned about grumbling among members of Congress than with winning hearts and minds beyond the Beltway. It believes that by this measure, the president's support is solid.

Relations between the executive and legislative branches are always difficult.

President Clinton and congressional Democrats fought bitterly over legislation in 1993 and 1994, the last time one party controlled both branches of government.

It is the transportation bill, on which the White House remains determined to hold down costs, that appears to have brought Hastert's frustration to a boil. Earlier this month he ordered a White House legislative aide to leave his office.

Efforts have been made in the past several days to mend fences. Senior White House officials met in Hastert's office this week, and on Tuesday Hastert and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) had dinner at the White House with Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. (The main dish was spaghetti with shrimp.)

The GOP House leadership is also now publicly playing down its differences with the White House, while acknowledging that relations are not yet smooth.

Deborah Pryce of Ohio, chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, said: "You're never going to be 100 percent on everything. There are normal frustrations and there have been some fumbles, but those have been patched up."

Another senior GOP lawmaker added: "We're doing OK and working together the best we can."

Finally, House leaders say, Iraq and the presidential election campaign loom over everything the House does. Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) told The Hill: "It is hard to get any message through. The political clutter demands a higher level of coordination between the White House and congressional Republicans.

"The campaign is overwhelming everything. The comments people are making would not be made if this were not an election year."

Hastert's frustrations are not only with the administration but also with the Senate.

Speaking at yesterday's GOP conference, he referred to the refusal of some Senate Repubicans to remove pay-as-you-go restrictions in the budget resolution, which would make it easier to reduce taxes, and said: "We have met the enemy, and it is us."