Obama defends bipartisanship to GOP

Defending himself before House Republicans Friday, a sometimes-angry President Obama said he has already incorporated their ideas into his proposals and made it clear he doesn’t think his administration is to blame for the lack of bipartisanship in Washington.

Mr. Obama, speaking to the House Republican caucus at their annual retreat in Baltimore, said he is not an ideologue and urged Republicans — most of whom have voted against every major piece of his agenda — to set aside politics and help him find common ground.

“I’m not suggesting we’re going to agree on everything,” Mr. Obama said. “But if the way these issues are being presented by Republicans is that this is some wild-eyed plot to impose huge government in every aspect of our lives, what happens is you guys then don’t have a lot of room to negotiate with me.”

At one point, Mr. Obama said congressional Republicans were characterizing even moderate, centrist proposals for health care reform as “some kind of Bolshevik plot.” But some Republicans in the question-and-answer session after his address said Mr. Obama and his fellow Democrats were to blame for shutting out the minority’s ideas, falsely accusing them of not offering any solutions or alternate proposals on major issues.

TWT RELATED STORIES
• Obama’s State of the Union barbs fuel bipartisan bickering

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, Utah Republican, was one of several GOP lawmakers who challenged Mr. Obama directly, chiding Mr. Obama for breaking several campaign promises.

“When you stood up before the American people multiple times and said you would broadcast the health care debates on C-SPAN, you didn’t. I was disappointed, and I think a lot of Americans were disappointed,” he said.

“I can look you in the eye and tell you, we have not been obstructionist,” Mr. Chaffetz added. “The Democrats have the House and Senate and the presidency.”

Having seen his party’s filibuster-proof majority in the Senate slip away earlier this month, Mr. Obama is no longer able to power his plans through Congress solely with Democratic votes. Combined with his State of the Union address on Wednesday, the president seems to be staking out a strategy of calling out minority Republicans in hopes of getting some support for his agenda.

Mr. Obama highlighted a few areas where the GOP has supported him, including the troop surge in Afghanistan, but took on a lecturing tone as he called Republican opposition to his stimulus and health care bills “disappointing.”

On health care, he argued that he has listened to Republican ideas such as allowing children to remain on their parents’ insurance longer and letting people pool together to buy policies across state lines. He also noted that the stimulus included tax cuts.

“From the start, I sought out and supported ideas from the Republicans. I even talked about an issue that has been a holy grail for a lot of you, which was tort reform, and said that I’d be willing to work together as part of a comprehensive package to deal with it. I just didn’t get a lot of nibbles,” he said.

Following his speech, Mr. Obama took several questions from lawmakers, including one from GOP Conference Chairman Mike Pence of Indiana, who asked whether the president would support across-the-board tax cuts. Mr. Obama said he could not back relief for the wealthiest individuals.

Earlier on Friday, Mr. Obama announced a tax credit he says would encourage small businesses to hire more workers. Under the proposal, businesses would be eligible for a $5,000 tax credit for every new hire this year, a plan the White House says would benefit 1 million firms. The total amount of credits would be limited to $500,000 per company.

But the House Republican conference immediately branded the proposal a “return of the Jimmy Carter tax credit” — a reference to a 1977 policy they say failed to reduce unemployment over the long-term. Republicans argue the credit would function as a temporary subsidy and that a permanent cut in tax rates would be more likely to spur economic growth.

Story Continues →