Congress cooperates, fights as recess nears

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Eager to begin a monthlong break, Congress leavened its customary heavy partisanship on Wednesday with a pinch of compromise, advancing legislation to repair the deeply troubled Department of Veterans Affairs and working to clear funds for highway construction at home and missile defense in Israel.

The House moved methodically toward passage of a bill to clean up the scandal-soiled VA, where some officials are accused of covering up long delays in patient care. The $16.3 billion measure would allow veterans to get outside care if they live too far from a VA health facility or face a delay of longer than 30 days in getting an appointment.

It also includes money to hire new doctors and allows the fast-track firing of senior officials found to be complicit in hiding agency shortcomings.

The legislation was a compromise between the House and Senate — one of few in the Congress that convened 18 months ago — with less money than Democrats wanted and a significant concession from conservative Republicans as well. It would raise federal deficits by $10 billion, one of very few times since tea party-aligned lawmakers came to power that the House has agreed to new spending without also insisting on offsetting cuts elsewhere in the budget.

“I am proud to stand with groups like the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and Disabled American Veterans in support of this legislation,” said U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Howland, D-13th, in an emailed statement.

“Our veterans deserve the best medical care this nation can provide and this bill, while not perfect, is a step in the right direction. Our veterans should be receiving cutting-edge mental and physical health treatments, and they should never be forced to endure these long wait periods and downright corruption. I look forward to the day our veterans get the care they have earned and deserve.”

Concerns about future costs prompted the conservative Club for Growth to oppose the bill. “It creates an unproven new entitlement that sets taxpayers on a course to spend half a trillion dollars over the next decade,” the organization said.

Even so, a final vote was expected today in the Senate.

Yet old habits proved unbreakable less than 100 days before elections with control of Congress at stake.

House Republicans hastened to authorize an official lawsuit accusing President Barack Obama of failing to enforce the health care law. And gridlock loomed on the administration’s call for billions to cope with a surge in young immigrants pouring into the U.S. illegally from Central America.

“Stop being mad all the time. Stop just hating all the time,” Obama lectured lawmakers from afar in Kansas City, Mo., in a speech that was particularly harsh on Republicans. “Come on. Let’s get some work done together.”

There was a modest amount of progress on compromise legislation during the day, and hopes in both parties for considerably more before a scheduled adjournment today.

The vote on the veterans bill was sandwiched between chapters of a highly partisan debate on the legislation to authorize a lawsuit against the president financed from public funds.

Democrats argued it was prelude to impeachment, a charge Republicans denied despite calls for Obama’s removal from some lawmakers aligned with the tea party.

“The people’s representatives will not turn a blind eye to the lawlessness of this president,” said Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., arguing for approval of the legislation.

Democratic Rep., Jackie Speier of California was scathing in rebuttal. With an oversized photo of a young child as a backdrop, she noted that Republicans opposed the health-care law and have voted dozens of time to dismantle it. “The only other group of people I know who scream when they want something then throw a tantrum when they get it are toddlers,” she said.

The path was bumpy even for one of the items on the bipartisan must-do list.

Legislation to assure uninterrupted funds for highway and bridge construction was stalled at least temporarily in a last-minute dispute between the House and Senate. Aides in both houses expressed confidence it would be resolved in time for final approval today.