GOP lawmakers look to salvage 2005

Tax cuts, immigration and benefit programs are all issues on the agenda.
LOS ANGELES TIMES
WASHINGTON -- Congress and the White House head into the year's political and legislative homestretch facing a backlog of divisive issues that will test the ability of Republican leaders to arrest a precipitous slide in their party's fortunes.
This month is, in essence, the last act of a yearlong drama that has seen the GOP plunge from giddy celebration of their 2004 election gains to a disheartened party beset by ethics problems and internal divisions.
Those divisions pose formidable obstacles to passage of controversial budget, tax and defense policy measures awaiting Congress as it reconvenes from a long Thanksgiving recess. The House returns Tuesday, the Senate a week later.
At stake are signature issues for the GOP: keeping alive key elements of President Bush's tax cuts, finishing the first effort in years to control fast-growing benefit programs such as Medicaid and student loans, and cracking down on illegal immigration.
Showing control
The agenda provides Republicans the opportunity to show that their control of Congress and the White House is paying off with action on important national problems. But they also face the risk of bearing the responsibility for stalemate.
"To go out [at year's end] without any substantial actions reinforces the notion that Congress has lost its way under our control," said Sen. Lindsey O. Graham, R-S.C. "To deliver is to show we are capable of governing."
The challenge for GOP leaders is that the issues left to be resolved widen festering divisions between moderate and conservative Republicans, between the House and the Senate, between Congress and the White House.
House and Senate GOP leaders and top White House aides held a two-day retreat last week on Maryland's Eastern Shore to plot legislative strategy. Sources attending the meeting -- all requested anonymity when discussing it -- said White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. urged Republicans to see their political fates entwined with Bush's.
One source quoted Card as saying, "We are all in this together. The president recognizes he's not up for election next year, but that this election is in part about him."
White House officials also told GOP leaders that they would step up efforts to promote positive economic trends. Bush followed through with that pledge on Friday, spotlighting strong job growth reported for November.
Some Republicans have complained that the White House has not done a good job communicating progress on the economy, as demonstrated by polls showing a majority of Americans are pessimistic about it.