Unity can be found in divided Capital

By KEVIN FERRIS
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
With hearings on the firings of eight U.S. attorneys and an Iraqi withdrawal showdown in the Senate, this wouldn't seem like the time to extol the virtues of divided government.
Yet Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was doing just that in interviews last week, repeating what he has been saying since Republicans lost control of Congress in November:
"Divided government presents a unique opportunity to tackle some of the intractable issues with considerable political fallout."
He points to the Social Security reforms passed in the '80s, when Republicans had the White House and Democrats controlled Congress, and the welfare reform of the 1990s, when Democrats had the presidency and the GOP had Capitol Hill.
And when he says intractable issues, he's serious. McConnell says this is the "perfect time" to tackle immigration reform and fix Social Security.
"By the next election, the majority is going to want to say it accomplished some things," he said. "Immigration and Social Security need to be addressed. They involve considerable risk, and they can only be done by a divided government. ... "If they prove difficult politically, (Democrats) can do what they're accustomed to doing: Blame it on Bush."
Skillful leader
McConnell's skills as a leader are drawing praise, and even across the aisle they're respected.
"He understands the rules very well," said Jim Manley, spokesman for Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. "He's a very fierce partisan and an effective advocate for the Republican position."
Part of that effectiveness comes from respect within his own caucus. McConnell has been in the Senate since 1985. His predecessor as party leader, Bill Frist, was in only his second term when elected to lead the Republican senators. More important, McConnell "is not running for president or any other office," said Don Stewart, the senator's communications director. "His primary goal is helping his colleagues."
Effectiveness also comes from understanding his party's limits in the Senate ("they get to set the agenda, and we get to react to it") and its potential ("a minority of 49 is nowhere near irrelevant").
"With 41 of our 49, we can shape legislation," he says, "but if we think it's really bad, we can kill it."
The GOP "shaped" the minimum-wage increase the Senate passed last month by insisting on tax cuts for small businesses. The Democratic-controlled House, which had initially passed a minimum-wage increase without tax cuts, followed the Senate's lead.
On McConnell's "kill" list is the Employee Free Choice Act, passed by the House in March. The bill would allow for union certification once a majority of workers signed cards authorizing a union. No secret-ballot election would be needed.
"We've conceded for 200 years that it is essential to a free election to cast votes in private," McConnell says. "So my goal there is to simply say no."
However, he's hoping for more significant achievements.
Comprehensive bill
McConnell won't give details but says Republican senators have been meeting "intensely" on a comprehensive immigration bill that covers "border security to guest workers to a sensible way to deal with the people already here that's not connected to some fast track to citizenship."
Manley, Reid's spokesman, says immigration is a priority for Democrats as well, and expects a bill on the Senate floor in early May. However, he cautions that "the only way to get a bill done is if there's more leadership from the White House."
"The Senate passed a comprehensive bill last year, 55-45, and I'm sure we can pass one in a Democratic Senate," McConnell says.
Social Security will be tougher, and here McConnell wants to focus on process first. He would like to see a "structure" composed of members of Congress and the administration who design a fix that could be presented to the Senate for an up-or-down vote.
Until those battles are joined, and despite his vehement disagreement with his Democratic colleagues on some issues ... McConnell is clear about his mission:
"I'm hoping to achieve enough unity within the GOP most of the time to make us a positive force here in the Senate and for the country. So far, I think it's pretty clear we've been able to do that."
Kevin Ferris is commentary page editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.