This time there was no discussion. This time, House Speaker John Boehner didn?t take the chance of losing another deal to a caucus with a tendency to self-immolate.
And so when Boehner delivered the news that he had struck a deal on a Thursday afternoon conference call with House Republicans, the technology was in place to prevent rank-and-file lawmakers from voicing the kind of angry dissent that scuttled a Senate-passed payroll bill on Saturday. The five day drama that exposed both the political naivete of the freshman-heavy Republican Conference and the sharp limits of Boehner?s power over them ended in silence.
Continue ReadingBoehner on payroll tax cut deal
At no small personal political risk, Boehner laid down the law to his unruly caucus, substituting his own judgment for their collective wisdom in cutting a very slightly altered deal with President Barack Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
?Speaker?s decision,? Rep. Jeb Hensarling, the fourth-ranking House Republican, said in introducing Boehner on the call.
The tweak is such a small political fig leaf that even Eve might blush at the lack of cover. But it got congressional Republicans what they desperately needed: A way out of a political vice that threatened to damage their party?s brand more with each passing day.
Boehner knew the year-end fight to renew the payroll tax would be bad ? but he couldn?t possibly have anticipated how bad it would get. Obama always knew the fight would be good for him ? but not this good. It got the president not only the tax cut he wanted but provided a jolt for Democrats anxious about 2012 who felt Obama had been played by House Republicans in earlier negotiations.
For the first time since they lost the House in 2010, Democrats see a president who likes to play hardball. And for the first time since they won election, freshman Republicans know what it feels like to be on the losing end of a Washington deal, literally silenced by their leaders.
?A core part of a president?s leadership is his ability to show he?s in charge and that he?s leading, rather than being led,? said Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank with close ties to the White House. ?One problem for him in the first two years is that he had to run with Congress because it was controlled by Democrats, and too often it seemed that they were pulling him rather than he was leading them.
?Now, he has stared down the House GOP and they have capitulated, showing that he?s in charge.?
But as the week started, it was not at all clear this was how it would end.
The White House laid low for the first 24 hours after Boehner signaled on NBC?s ?Meet the Press? that the House would not accept the Senate compromise, issuing a written statement calling on Republicans to ?stop playing politics.? And on Monday, with the House vote looming, senior administration officials' aides stayed with a restrained message: Boehner and his caucus still had a chance to do the right thing and ink the deal that won support from 89 senators, a rarity in Washington.
By Tuesday, however, the White House was done with subtlety. Obama showed up in the White House briefing room unannounced and made clear that he was in no mood to compromise.
?Now, let?s be clear: Right now, the bipartisan compromise that was reached on Saturday is the only viable way to prevent a tax hike on January 1st,? Obama said. ?It?s the only one.?
The statement was unusually inflexible for a president who prides himself on finding common ground between warring factions. But behind the scenes, there was little internal debate over this course of action ? either within the West Wing or among the Senate leaders with whom Obama stayed in close contact.
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