Larry
November-4th-2010, 01:37 PM
And so, it begins.
Link (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101104/ap_on_re_us/us_bipartisan_challenge).
WASHINGTON – Barely an hour after President Barack Obama invited congressional Republicans to post-election talks to work together on major issues, the Senate's GOP leader had a blunt message: His party's main goal is denying Obama re-election.
In a sign that combat and the 2012 elections rather than compromise could mark the next two years, Sen. Mitch McConnell on Thursday called for Senate votes to repeal or erode Obama's signature health care law, to cut spending and to shrink government.
"The only way to do all these things it is to put someone in the White House who won't veto any of these things," McConnell said in a speech to the conservative Heritage Foundation.
Obama and, to some degree, Republican leaders did signal they might reach accords on a few issues, such as energy. Obama has abandoned his proposed cap-and-trade system for trying to reduce greenhouse gases, which Republicans sharply opposed. But he said the two parties might reach compromises on other fronts, such as promoting electric cars, nuclear power, energy efficiency and "energy independence."
But McConnell on Thursday indicated that the road to agreements is more like a one-way street.
"If the administration wants cooperation, it will have to begin to move in our direction," McConnell said.
And he spelled out a strategy for undermining Obama's health care law, calling for repeated votes to repeal the measure.
"But we can't expect the president to sign it," he said. "So we'll also have to work, in the House, on denying funds for implementation, and, in the Senate, on votes against its most egregious provisions."
Obama hinted that he might be willing to extend Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans for a year or two but not make them permanent, as Republicans have advocated.
Republicans, meanwhile, spoke of working with Democrats only in vague terms. Mostly, they seemed defiant.
McConnell was unapologetic for the unified resistance of the Republican Party to Obama initiatives over the past two years.
"By sticking together in principled opposition to policies we viewed as harmful, we made it perfectly clear to the American people where we stood," he said. "And we gave voters a real choice on Election Day."
He also vowed to continue to keep the administration in check by using congressional hearings to oversee executive branch actions.
"Through oversight we'll also keep a spotlight on the various agencies the administration will now use to advance through regulation what it can't through legislation," he said.
Lots more at the link, but I think I copied all the highlights.
Fun, fun, fun.
Link (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101104/ap_on_re_us/us_bipartisan_challenge).
WASHINGTON – Barely an hour after President Barack Obama invited congressional Republicans to post-election talks to work together on major issues, the Senate's GOP leader had a blunt message: His party's main goal is denying Obama re-election.
In a sign that combat and the 2012 elections rather than compromise could mark the next two years, Sen. Mitch McConnell on Thursday called for Senate votes to repeal or erode Obama's signature health care law, to cut spending and to shrink government.
"The only way to do all these things it is to put someone in the White House who won't veto any of these things," McConnell said in a speech to the conservative Heritage Foundation.
Obama and, to some degree, Republican leaders did signal they might reach accords on a few issues, such as energy. Obama has abandoned his proposed cap-and-trade system for trying to reduce greenhouse gases, which Republicans sharply opposed. But he said the two parties might reach compromises on other fronts, such as promoting electric cars, nuclear power, energy efficiency and "energy independence."
But McConnell on Thursday indicated that the road to agreements is more like a one-way street.
"If the administration wants cooperation, it will have to begin to move in our direction," McConnell said.
And he spelled out a strategy for undermining Obama's health care law, calling for repeated votes to repeal the measure.
"But we can't expect the president to sign it," he said. "So we'll also have to work, in the House, on denying funds for implementation, and, in the Senate, on votes against its most egregious provisions."
Obama hinted that he might be willing to extend Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans for a year or two but not make them permanent, as Republicans have advocated.
Republicans, meanwhile, spoke of working with Democrats only in vague terms. Mostly, they seemed defiant.
McConnell was unapologetic for the unified resistance of the Republican Party to Obama initiatives over the past two years.
"By sticking together in principled opposition to policies we viewed as harmful, we made it perfectly clear to the American people where we stood," he said. "And we gave voters a real choice on Election Day."
He also vowed to continue to keep the administration in check by using congressional hearings to oversee executive branch actions.
"Through oversight we'll also keep a spotlight on the various agencies the administration will now use to advance through regulation what it can't through legislation," he said.
Lots more at the link, but I think I copied all the highlights.
Fun, fun, fun.