BALTIMORE — Agreeing with President Obama’s low expectations for Congress this year, GOP leaders cast their eye farther afield Thursday, saying they wanted to use the upcoming months to define the kinds of big philosophical choices voters will make in November’s elections.
House and Senate Republicans gathered in downtown Baltimore to set a strategy for their second year in full control of Congress, brainstorming ways to replace Obamacare, fight poverty and push back against threats from abroad.
But with Mr. Obama still wielding a veto from the White House, the lawmakers have given up hope this year of big changes to the tax code or succeeding in repealing the Affordable Care Act, saying the plans they develop during this week’s retreat will be taken straight to voters.
“The kind of agenda we’re talking about forming is what could we do if we had a Republican president. What does 2017 look like if the election goes the way we hope it goes?” House Speaker Paul D. Ryan said. “And that’s why we think it’s important for us to offer a positive, solutions-oriented approach, an agenda to the American people so that they can choose in 2016 what kind of country they want to have.”
Democrats have their own ideas about the upcoming year, with Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid saying he will force the GOP to hold votes on Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s plans, making lawmakers take politically tricky votes.
“Since Republican leaders in the House and Senate have pledged loyalty to Trump, the obvious next step is to vote on his policies, including his unconstitutional plan to bar people from entering the United States based on their religion,” Mr. Reid, Nevada Democrat, said.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he doesn’t want to turn the Senate into a “studio” for issues from the 2016 campaign, but warned Democrats they could be forced to vote on proposals by the Democratic front-runners for president, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernard Sanders, Vermont independent.
“It’s worth noting,” he said, “that what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.”
Republicans said cooperation with Mr. Obama is still possible this year on criminal justice reform and overhauling mental health care, which could serve as the GOP’s answer to Democrats’ push for gun controls.
Beyond that, however, the chief goal is small: to keep the government open, without a shutdown showdown, by passing the dozen bills that fund basic federal operations. House leaders plan to write a budget by early March, and both chambers hope to then quickly begin work on the individual spending bills.
It’s “not going to titillate the public, but one obvious step would be for the first time since 1994 to do all the appropriation bills,” Mr. McConnell, Kentucky Republican, said. “And the Democrats in the Senate who have blocked that possibility this year are at least saying the right things.”
Mr. Ryan was a little more ambitious, saying the House majority needs to offer a “positive” and “inspiring” agenda that addresses the problems of the day.
“He’s pushing us, he’s driving us, and he’s setting goals out there,” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, California Republican, said.
Trading navy suits for cozy sweaters and blue jeans, lawmakers shuttled around a Marriott hotel near the city’s scenic Inner Harbor Thursday, breaking into work sessions with think tanks, columnists and religious leaders to launch what leaders have dubbed a “competition of ideas.”
House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price, Georgia Republican, said the party can win on health reform if they rally around a viable GOP plan, arguing Democrats’ “vaunted Obamacare leaves 30 million folks uncovered.”
“I think there’s a consensus on the principles, that accessibility needs to be patient-driven, patient-chosen,” Mr. Price said. “Costs need to come down, but the president has increased the costs drastically and [is] denying people care at this point.”
In the meantime, many GOP members don’t want to get dragged into a Republican primary race that’s heavy on anti-establishment rhetoric. They’re urging patience as voters sift through the field and pledging wary allegiance to whoever emerges from the crowded field.
Mr. Trump, the flamboyant real estate mogul who leads the Republican president field, has accused the GOP establishment of laying down on Mr. Obama instead of “winning,” while Sen. Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican who’s sparred with party leadership, leads in Iowa ahead of the Feb. 1 caucuses.
“We can’t stop what individual candidates are saying. Sure, there’s going to be a lot of anger in this election,” Rep. Adam Kinzinger, Illinois Republican, said. “But if we can pair our message with a nominee that hopefully has a positive message, it’d be good.”
Mr. Trump has proposed mass deportations of illegal immigrants and a ban on Muslim arrivals until the U.S. can grasp the threat of Islamic terrorism, making the GOP establishment uncomfortable. More recently, he told Canada-born Mr. Cruz to sort out his eligibility for the presidency, raising even more questions that party pooh-bahs would rather avoid.
“Our presidential candidates are out there beating each other up at the moment, and that’s going to solve itself at some point during the process,” Mr. McConnell told reporters in between work sessions.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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