Fractures Emerge Between Obama, Congressional Democrats
Coming Midterms Complicate White House's Agenda on Trade, Energy, Health Care
Updated Feb. 3, 2014 8:01 p.m. ET
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said he opposes a top trade initiative of the president's.
Zuma Press
WASHINGTON—Democrats in Congress are parting ways with President
Barack Obama
on issues including trade, energy and health care as the gap
widens between the political demands of keeping control of the Senate
and advancing parts of the White House agenda.
A phalanx of Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid,
have announced opposition to the president's top trade
initiative. Many Democrats are clamoring for Mr. Obama to act soon to
allow construction of the Keystone XL pipeline—a decision the White
House is expected to make before midterm elections. Vulnerable Democrats
are bluntly criticizing the rollout of the 2010 health-care law. Even
an under-the-radar issue such as a flood-insurance bill has been a point
of tension.
Against that backdrop, Mr. Reid met
with the president in the Oval Office for about an hour Monday along
with Sen. Michael Bennet (D., Colo.), who is chief strategist in his
party's drive to keep control of the Senate after November. The meeting
was to review the political landscape of the crucial midterm-election
year.
A Democratic official familiar
with the meeting said it was requested by Mr. Reid as a routine matter,
unrelated to the rift between the Nevada senator and the president on
trade policy that emerged last week.
"We don't stay on the same page through smoke signals," the official said. "We sit down and talk."
Despite
those tensions, Democrats and White House officials say they remain
united on major elements of the legislative and political agenda, such
as the extension of unemployment benefits that lapsed late last year.
"There
is far more that Democrats in Congress and the president agree on than
there are areas where there might be differences," said Obama pollster
Joel Benenson.
Republicans, too, are
riven with deep divisions within their party—on immigration policy and
how to handle the coming debt-limit increase. But Democrats are finding
that a united front that was so durable through last year's budget
battles has its limits in an election year. Action on Mr. Obama's trade
policy could advance his economic plans but hurt Democratic candidates
in the process.
"Our caucus would rather
see this issue come up at another time because there are strong
feelings on both sides of the issue, and you hate to be pushed into a
decision that might be easier to make after an election," said Senate
Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D., Ill.).
The
White House and Senate Democrats share a powerful political interest in
the fight to keep Republicans from picking up six seats they would need
to take control of the Senate this year. Mr. Reid doesn't want to
relinquish control of a chamber that has proved a bulwark against a
Republican-controlled House and would be crucial to Mr. Obama's ability
to have any sway in Congress during the last two years of his
presidency.
Although he is unpopular in
the states with the most fiercely contested Senate races—including
Arkansas, Louisiana, Alaska and North Carolina—Mr. Obama remains a
mighty asset in helping his party's candidates raise money. He
participated in seven fundraising events for the Democratic Senatorial
Campaign Committee last year, and Democrats are expecting more in 2014.
Some
Senate races have become more competitive since the problems with the
health law's rollout—and because of a big influx of ads spotlighting
those hiccups by conservative outside groups. That has weakened some
once-strong incumbents like Sen. Kay Hagan (D., N.C.) and made open
seats like one in Michigan tougher to hold.
Vulnerable
Democrats have made greater efforts to distance themselves from
unpopular aspects of the health law. Late last year, Sen.
Mary Landrieu
of Louisiana introduced legislation to protect individuals whose
policies were ended because they didn't meet the law's new standard.
That added to pressure on the White House to propose an administrative
fix.
The most striking fissure between
the White House and Senate Democrats came last week when Mr. Reid, one
of the president's most reliable allies on Capitol Hill, told reporters
he opposed administration-backed legislation aimed at speeding passage
of free-trade agreements, a vital component to advancing two major
international trade deals. Bitterly opposed by many labor leaders, a
vote on the fast-track trade bill would put Democrats in the difficult
position of choosing between Mr. Obama and the unions who are a crucial
source of campaign workers and cash.
"I
think everyone would be well-advised just not to push this right now,"
Mr. Reid said. An official familiar with his thinking said it was
"pretty unlikely" the majority leader would bring the bill to a vote
before Election Day but that it was "possible" he would do so after
November.
Mr. Durbin predicted the White
House would be hearing from other Democrats beside Mr. Reid who would
rather not vote on the issue anytime soon.
Sen.
Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, another Democrat with a potentially
tough fight this fall, demurred when asked about the issue. "It does
have pressures on both sides," she said. "We're taking a look at it."
Helping
spotlight one of his most vulnerable incumbents, Mr. Reid last month
called up a flood-insurance bill that was a signature initiative of Ms.
Landrieu's. The bill, to delay scheduled flood-insurance-premium
increases, passed easily. Ms. Landrieu expressed anger when, before the
bill came to a vote, the White House issued a statement criticizing the
bill because it believed it undercut the program's financing.
Some
red-state Democrats have welcomed opportunities to stake out positions
in opposition to the White House on issues like the Keystone XL
pipeline, giving them ammunition to argue they are independent of the
president. The pipeline project is opposed by environmentalists, but
many Democrats in swing states support its construction as a way to
create jobs—especially in a state like Louisiana, where refineries stand
to benefit.
If Mr. Obama doesn't
approve the pipeline soon, Senate Democrats could face repeated GOP
efforts to force a vote on the issue. Senate Minority Leader Mitch
McConnell (R., Ky.) said recently he would "continue to push for
immediate consideration of bipartisan legislation…that will get the
pipeline built."
A White House official
said a verdict seems likely before the November elections. The official
also said the administration fully expects that some Democrats will
part ways with the president on issues such as Keystone and trade.
"Overall, on our economic-opportunity agenda, that's something Democrats are excited about," the official said.
Write to Janet Hook at janet.hook@wsj.com and Peter Nicholas at peter.nicholas@wsj.com
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