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Democrats Are Frustrated When Republicans Unite

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By CHARLES BABINGTON, The Associated Press

Published: December 23, 2007

Updated: 12/22/2007 11:13 pm

WASHINGTON - Democrats running Congress for the first time in more than a decade faltered at key points this year as they grudgingly passed important bills opposed by many, or most, of their House members. When Republicans were in charge, they generally avoided a similar fate.

Republican solidarity also forced House Democrats to abandon a campaign promise to pay for new programs with tax increases or budget cuts, and not resort to new deficit spending.

In the Senate, Republicans repeatedly used their filibuster powers to block or weaken Democratic proposals. Backed by President Bush's veto threats, the minority party managed to sharply limit the Democrats' influence on a range of issues during the year.

The Democrats' dilemma was clear in two House votes this past week just before Congress went on vacation.

The House voted 352-64 on Wednesday to delay expansion of the alternative minimum tax. All 64 "no" votes came from Democrats who wanted the $50 billion cut in anticipated revenue to be offset, either with spending cuts or tax increases on wealthy groups. They were dismayed that the party had abandoned its no-deficit-spending pledge.

The House then voted 272-142 to set aside $70 billion for the military in Iraq and Afghanistan. Nearly twice as many Democrats voted against the spending as voted for it, because the measure imposed no restrictions on Bush's war policies.

In all, 174 of the House's 232 Democrats voted against one or both of the high-profile measures, an obvious setback for a party that rose to power last year on voters' discontent with Bush and the Iraq war.

The Iraq spending bill came to a vote only because Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., refused to embrace the hard-line partisan philosophy of her predecessor.

Former Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., allowed major legislation to reach the full House only if it was backed by a "majority of the majority" - meaning, in his case, most Republicans.

Hastert invoked his rule most prominently in November 2004 to quash an intelligence bill that he, Bush and most Democrats supported, but which most House Republicans opposed. The "Hastert rule" marginalized and infuriated Democrats. Pelosi dropped it when she became speaker in January.

Her decision and Republican lawmakers' loyalty to Bush and his Iraq policies obligated Pelosi to swallow bitter bills this year, most notably approving money for the war without conditions. Unable to override Bush's veto of efforts to force troop withdrawals, House Democrats in May and December reluctantly allowed passage of Republican-backed bills that lacked support from the "majority of the majority."

"That's a reality of life that we have to deal with," Pelosi said. The public knows where congressional Democrats stand on the war, she said, even if they could not enforce their will. "This is the legislative process," she said.

Democrats' inability to wind down the Iraq war has mystified and angered their anti-war supporters. But lawmakers and analysts say a Hastert-like stand by Pelosi might have led to a government shutdown or similar standoff, with unpredictable political results.

DEMOCRATS FALTER

MAJORITY LOSSES: Democrats running Congress for the first time in more than a decade faltered at key points this year as they grudgingly passed important bills opposed by many, or even most, of their House members. When Republicans were in charge, they generally avoided a similar fate.

FILIBUSTER WEAPON: In the Senate, Republicans repeatedly used their filibuster powers to block or weaken Democratic proposals.

RECENT FALLS: The Democrats' dilemma was clear in two House votes this past week. In all, 174 of the House's 232 Democrats voted against one or both of the high-profile measures that passed - on the alternative minimum tax and funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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