More Aggressive Congress Could Hinder Bush's Plans - WaPo

[rndmprsn]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12382-2004Dec19.html

gathering clouds on bushco's second term domestic agenda...i hope the repukes in congress implode and their majority brings with it new internacine turf wars etc...it's a bitch trying to be the party of reform when you are the party in power you know....


President Bush's second-term plans to reshape Social Security, immigration laws and other domestic programs are facing a stiff challenge from a group that was reliably accommodating in the president's first four years: congressional Republicans.

After essentially rubber-stamping much of Bush's first-term agenda, many House and Senate Republicans plan to assert themselves more forcefully to put their mark on domestic policy in the new year, according to several lawmakers.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (Tex.) has privately criticized White House handling of the recent intelligence bill and Bush's plan to postpone tax reform until 2006 or later. Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (Va.) and others have publicly complained about the political and fiscal hazards of overhauling Social Security. Several senators, including a few 2008 presidential contenders, are rushing to promote their own Social Security plans to compete with Bush's.

And a number of conservative Republicans concerned about states' rights, such as Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.), are threatening to derail the White House plan to impose federal limits on medical lawsuits. "It's one of the worst bills going," Graham said.

But the president's most nettlesome intra-party issue in early 2005 may be immigration, lawmakers said. Bush's goal of granting guest-worker status to large numbers of undocumented immigrants is about to collide head-on with House Republicans' push to crack down on illegal immigrants, in part by denying them driver's licenses.

[Killarney]

1. I love it when republicans have infighting.