Bipartisan action in Congress will fizzle

The closing days of the dismal 113th Congress provided an unexpected but dismayingly brief hint of a brighter bipartisan future — and its potential pitfalls.

Unfortunately, it barely lasted the weekend, judging from this week’s partisan votes on long-pending Obama administration nominees, including the 55-39 Senate vote finally confirming Dallas’ U.S. Attorney Sarah Saldana to run the Immigration and Customs Enforcement branch of the Department of Homeland Security.

Because of the rules change the Democratic majority muscled through last year, those nominees required support of only a simple majority of 51 votes, instead of the 60 that had become the standard in recent years. Republicans still lined up in virtually solid opposition, citing Saldana’s statement supporting President Barack Obama’s order protecting millions of illegal entrants. A similar split vote approved Obama’s choice for Surgeon General after the National Rifle Association opposed the nominee for calling guns a health issue.

Funding package

The bipartisanship led to the final week’s most significant action, passage of the $1.1 trillion package to fund most of the federal government until next Sept. 30. Without it, congressional leaders could not have passed the bill because of opposition from the Democratic left and the Republican right.

However, the massive spending package funds the Department of Homeland Security for only two months, the GOP’s way of decrying Obama’s order on immigrants. It received the backing of 162 Republicans and 57 Democrats in the House, and 24 Republicans and 32 Democrats in the Senate.

Liberal Democratic opponents denounced provisions weakening the Dodd-Frank securities market regulation bill and opening a massive campaign fundraising loophole. Conservative Republicans attacked both the fundraising loophole and the failure to explicitly deny funds for Obama’s executive order.

If everyone in Congress had voted ideologically, the measure might not have passed. But neither party leadership wanted to take responsibility for triggering a pre-Christmas government shutdown.

Nevertheless, the divisions displayed by these votes will recur next year at times when this week’s pressures are absent, likely triggering further confrontations between the two parties, neither of whom have the votes to prevail on their own.

It’s difficult to imagine that future GOP spending measures can attract anywhere close to last week’s Democratic support, which split the party’s House leadership. It occurred because some Democrats recognized any deal Republicans offered in 2014 would probably be better for them than any in 2015, when they’ll have more votes and less need for Democrats.

That showdown could occur quickly, since the decision to temporarily fund the Department of Homeland Security virtually guarantees another fight in February. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz took a symbolic shot against it last Saturday night but got only 22 votes, angering fellow Republicans by creating a parliamentary situation that helped the Democrats confirm more of their nominees. True GOP feelings about Obama’s action were reflected in the 39-2 GOP vote against Saldana, whom GOP whip John Cornyn of Texas had praised before she backed Obama’s immigration action.

Restrictions

Presumably, any Republican proposal to fund the department after Feb. 28 will include restrictions Obama would oppose, ensuring a partisan battle with the outcome dependent on how many Democrats break party ranks.

Other clashes next year will undoubtedly occur on such matters as raising the legal debt ceiling and passing a reconciliation bill, which puts the budget into effect. Reconciliation bills need only 51 votes in the Senate and have been used to pass controversial legislation such as the Bush-era tax cuts and the Affordable Care Act.

It might be how next year’s 54-senator GOP majority tries to curb the latter law, though that would require the president’s signature.

So this week’s taste of bipartisanship seems likely to be brief. The partisan split on votes confirming Saldana and other nominees continues to reflect the reality of our times, at least for two more years.

Carl P. Leubsdorf is the former Washington bureau chief of the Dallas Morning News.