T h e L e g is la tive N e w s - D a ilyfro m C o n g re s s io n a l Q u a rte rlyFinish in Sight forStim ulus Effort'T ra n s fo rm a tio n a l' $789 billio n pa cka g e co u ld cle a r C o n g re s s o n Frida yBy D AVID C L ARKE, J OSEPHJ . SC HAT ZAN D PAUL M. KRAWZAKC Q ST AFF WRIT ERSCongress isset to clear asearlyas Fridayan enormous spend-ing and tax cut measure aimed atstemminga deep recessionthatpromises to dominate the agendainWashington for the foreseeablefuture.Democrats hit potholesalongthe way while rapidly negotiat-ingthe $789 billion measure (HR1), but party leaders are on trackto deliver the bill on their statedschedule, handing an early politi-cal victory to President Obama.Lawmakers who back the planhave high expectations for its his-toric sizeand scope."The legislation that will cometo the floor tomorrow,the recov-Pelosi said school construction was apriority for HouseDemocrats,ery package, is transformationalthough some inher caucus were not happy with the compromise.in what it will do," said HouseSpeaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. "Trans-formational in that it will create millionsof jobs, and do so in away that will bringstability to the economy."But the glow Democrats enjoy fromgetting the bill enacted may notlastlong. The size of the bill alone will haveStimulus continued onpage 18Par t i s an s h i p Th r eat en s Dem o c r at i c A g en d awill bevery difficult toachieve the goals theAmerican people want."Not only will Democratic leaders suchas Durbin need afew Senate Republicansto end procedural roadblocks on divisivemeasures, they will also have to hold on tomoderate Democrats,some of whom mightnot be eager to back big-ticket spendinggiven the staggering cost of the economicstimulus and financial bailout.President Obama has said he hopes hiseffort to reach out to Republicans will leadto successful collaborationsdown the road.Democratic leaders are preparingto forgeAgendacontinued onpage 22By C AT HARIN E RIC HERT ,C Q ST AFF WRIT ERThe difficulty inrounding up Republicanvotes for the economic stimulus packagecould signal along, tough road ahead forDemocratic leaders asthey seek to expandhealth care coverage, pass climate-changelegislation and overhaul entitlement pro-grams."There are issues that are going to beequally if not more controversial," saidSen. Richard J . Durbin of Illinois, the topDemocrat incharge of courting and count-ingvotes. "The Republicans have to decideif they want to be part of this discussion.Iftheir idea isto sayno to everything,then itNOTE TO READERS:For updateson the economic stimulus bill, pleasevisitCQPolitics.com, CQ's free Website devoted to politics andpolicy.Thenext issueof CQ Today is scheduledfor publication Monday, Feb. 23. Mo reo n th es tim u lu s , pp. 15- 21 GOP w a rn in g o n n o m in e e s , p. 5PUL SE OFCONGRESSWith Eyeon Middle Class Issues,Populist Caucus Sets U pShopBy AL AN K.OT AC Q ST AFF WRIT ERHouse Majority Whip J ames E.Clyburnlikes to joke about the difficulty of hisjob by pointingto the eight factionswithin the Democratic Caucus. owhe can add one more to the list.The Populist Caucus, whichde-clared itself open for business earlierthis week, issomewhere inthe middle,wedged between the CongressionalProgressive Caucus on the left and thecentrist New Democrat Coalition.The main difference betweenHouse Democratic progressives andpopulists: The progressives focus on abroader range of issues including thewar inIraq, the environment and pov-erty; populists are more tightly focusedon middle-class economic issues.Populismhas a checkered historyin American politics, but it's being re-vived by the House Democrats' fresh-man class of2006, which Speaker NancyPelosi, D-Calif.,dubbed her "majoritymakers."BruceBraleyofIowa hasbeen leading ef-fortstoraisetheprofileof hisclassmates,who account for about two-thirds of the23 Populist Caucus members. They arePulse continued on page 10People: Rep. Hill promotes top aide,p. 10Vo lu m e 45, N u m be r 27Pa g e 22 CQTo d ay, Frida y, Fe bru a ry13,2009A g en d a continued from page 1coalitions on an issue-by-issue basis, but itwill not be easy.'Tm worried," said Sen. J eff Bingaman,D-N.M.,who as chairmanof the Energyand Natural Resources Committeewill becharged with drafting new energy legisla-tion. "It's going to be hard. I think we needto do abetter job of explaining to Republi-cans why these issues matter to them."Sen. Byron L. Dorgan,chairman of theDemocratic Policy Committee, saidheputsthestimulusinaseparate category and doesnot think the challenge inbuilding supportfor it "saysmuch about anything other thanthis issue." He added, "We're going to dealwith issues one by one."Democrats have a58-41 advantage overRepublicans in the Senate, up from 51-49in the llOth Congress. Regardless of theoutcome of the Minnesota race betweenDemocrat Al Franken and RepublicanormColeman, the majority party will stillneed at least one GOPvote tosecure the 60needed to limit debate inthat chamber."You never get anything done in theU nited States Senate if it isn't bipartisan,"Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, warnedDemocrats at the conference committeeon the stimulus.Although Obama worked hard to line upGOP support for the stimulus package, noHouse Republicans backed their chamber'sinitial version (HR 1) and only three SenateRepublicans crossed over: Arlen Specter ofPennsylvania,andOlympia J . Snoweand Susan Collinsof Maine."What theycould have donewas sat down withthe Republicanleadership," saidTennessee's La-mar Alexander,chairman of theSenate Republican Conference. Moreconsultationwith Republicans could haveresulted in a bill that does more for thehousing sector, he said.Alexander said Obama isgoing tohave todo more than engage in"anice social visit."He added: "If this administration wants toget 20 Republicans, he's going to have tolose 10Democrats."Meager support forthestimulus package isnot agood omen for bipartisanship on otherissues that require robust backing frombothparties, said Robert Blendon, aprofessor ofhealth policyandpolitical analysisat the Har-vard School of Public Health."In avote asclose asthis with the stimu-lus, it's very hard to envision somethingmore controversial," he said. "You're talk-ing about really big things."L am ar A l ex an d erL o o k i n g A h eadBy "really big things," Blendon is refer-ring tothe type of health care overhaulthatObama and Democratstouted on the cam-L i n c o l n ' s 2 0 0 t h : Pre s ide n t Oba m a s po ke T h u rs da yin th e C a pito lRo tu n da a s pa rt o f a s e rie so f e ve n ts m a rkin g th e 200th a n n ive rs a ry o f Pre s ide n t Abra h a m L in co ln 's birth . Fla n ke d byco n g re s s io n a l le a de rs - a n d a s ta tu e o f th e fo rm e rpre s ide n t- Oba m a re ca lle d th e ro le th eC a pito l s e rve d in th e C ivil Wa r a s a m a ke s h ifth o s pita la n d ba rra cks fo r Un io ns o ldie rs .paign trail, one that would greatly expandcoverage and likely require taxincreases topay for the measure."As we do these trillion-dollar deficitspending measures, Congress will be con-cerned about launching longstanding pro-grams without financing," he said, citingthe fiscally conservativeBlue Dogs in theHouse. "The question will be, 'How do wepay for this?' "Atthe risk of alienating members of theirown party, Democratic leaders should takeapiecemeal approach tohealth care, focus-inginstead on less controversial- and lessexpensive - proposals, such as universalhealth care for children and improve-ments to hospitalinformation technology,Blendon said.RonWyden, D-Ore., aFinance Commit-tee member who has been working on abipartisan plan to change health care, sayshe's not worried,because voters are beinghit by high health care costs and will de-mand action. "We'll have abit more time,"he said of health care. 'Legislation dealing with domestic energyindependence might have abetter chancewith coastal and coal-state Republicanseager to boost local production, said AndyHoffman, aprofessor at the U niversity ofMichigan's Schoolof atural Resourcesand Environment."There has beenRepublican supportfor these types of issues in the past," hesaid, pointing to acap-and-trade measuresponsored in the 110th Congress by Sens.J oseph 1. Lieberman, I-Conn., and J ohnMcCain, R-Ariz. "There's alot of jockeyinghere at the beginning to figure out the neworder ... but I don't think this is the finalperiod on the end of the sentence."Senate Republicans say they want to bebrought into discussions of legislation earli-er but are not seeking to be obstructionists."There's no connection whatsoever be-tween the stimulus and what we'll be doingin those other areas," said senior Republi-can RobertF. Bennett of U tah. "They'repriorities for the country,and we want todo what's best for the country.I'm votingagainst the stimulus because I don't thinkit will work, but by no means is that partof any grand conspiracy being hatched be-hind closed doors to derailanything elsedown the road."Old guard senior appropriator ThadCochran, R-Miss., takes amore pragmaticview. "We need more members," he said."We have to win more elections."