GOP's Legislative Agenda Losing Steam

[cal04]

A year's work hangs in the balance for the Republican-controlled Congress, its conservative agenda sketched confidently last winter: cut taxes, open wildlife refuge in Alaska to oil drilling, and hold down the cost of health, education and nutrition programs that serve millions.

The agenda is the same. But the confidence is shaken by
President Bush's sagging poll numbers, an unstable leadership lineup in the House and growing concern about congressional elections less than a year away. "Where you stand depends on where you sit," says GOP Rep. Rob Simmons. In his case, it's a district in Connecticut that Democrat John Kerrycaptured handily in the 2004 presidential race

Simmons, in his third term, also is unhappy with the deficit-cutting bill ardently sought by the conservatives who hold sway in his party.
Across the Capitol, moderate Sen. Olympia Snowe (news, bio, voting record) balks at extending reduced rates on income from investments, leaving Republicans on the Senate Finance Committeewithout a majority to advance $64 billion in tax cuts. "We're in a different economic environment," said the Maine Republican, who so far has no Democratic challenger in her 2006 race. "We've had three back-to-back hurricanes" that have cost billions.

The Finance Committee chairman, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, said: "If I move one way, I lose a couple votes. If I move another way, I lose a couple votes." The same predicament applies in the House, where the leadership is short of the votes needed to cut projected deficits by $50 billion or more over the next decade. The original target was $35 billion. But that was before conservatives intervened this fall with a demand for deeper reductions to offset at some of the billions spent on cleanup and reconstruction from Hurricane Katrina and other storms.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051112/ap_on_go_co/gop_struggles

[European Socialist]

1. Time to cut off funding for the Iraq War. nt

[Blue Topaz]

2. Gee, what are they afraid of?

"A year's work hangs in the balance for the Republican-controlled Congress, its conservative agenda sketched confidently last winter: cut taxes, open wildlife refuge in Alaska to oil drilling, and hold down the cost of health, education and nutrition programs that serve millions."

These ideas are popular with constituents, right? :sarcasm: The conservative agenda is about as popular as finding a cockroach in your sheets, and these guys know it.