Obama Nominations and Spending Plan Update

Two of Barak Obama's nominees to his administration withdrew their names for consideration today -- both because of their failure to pay all of their taxes until their nomination -- including former Senator Tom Daschle for Secretary of Health and Human Services. Daschle's nomination had come under increasing Republican pressure, even though Timothy Geithner was confirmed as Secretary of the Treasury, which includes the Internal Revenue Service, despite his failure to pay federal taxes and the related problem of his employment of an illegal alien. Geithner had received 34 votes in opposition, including from some Senators who were not members of the GOP. Apparently, Daschle's tax liability was larger and involved more specific instances than Geithner's.

Thus, although Eric Holder was confirmed last night as Attorney General, with 21 votes in opposition, Obama was unable to get all of his cabinet nominees confirmed because of opposition, not including Bill Richardson for Secretary of Commerce, who withdrew his name from consideration before the Senate began to consider it. All of the last four presidents now have suffered the same fate. The rejection of a cabinet nominee because of political pressure tends to embolden the opposition party that succeeded in rejecting the nominee or forcing the withdrawal.

This time, however, the Republicans in Congress have already been emboldened by their unity in opposition to Obama's pork-laden $800 billion spending plan. Already, as mentioned in a previous post, the House Republicans forced the removal from the so-called stimulus bill such provisions as funding for contraception and re-sodding the National Mall. Their principled conservative opposition even attracted the votes of 11 House Democrats, and encouraged Republican opposition in the Senate. In the upper chamber, too, Democrats are beginning to back away from the Obama spending plan the more some of its provisions are becoming known (i.e. money for ACORN and other radical left-wing groups, a Buy American provision that would inflate costs and spark retaliatory sanctions by our trading partners, tax rebates for illegal aliens, and tons of pork). Republicans have also pointed out that the plan would stimulate few jobs in its early years, when job creation is most needed before the economy recovers from the recession on its own, because the infrastructure spending Obama proposes, which the GOP does not seem to oppose in principle, would take too long to be ready in order to provide any short-term benefit.

Congressional Republicans, led by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnel (R-KY), have announced better ideas, instead of just opposing the Obama Administration's plan. They have proposed a government mortgage program, and, of course, targeted tax cuts. Instead of tax rebates for the working poor that amount to welfare because they amount of the rebate would be greater than the amount of taxes they would have had to have paid, some Republicans have proposed a payroll tax cut, or income tax rate cuts. Either kind of tax cut would provide economic stimulus more rapidly than Obama's long-term infrastructure spending. Additionally, conservatives and Republicans are promoting tax cuts that would stimulate investment and hiring, such as capital gains and corporate tax cuts.

Obama seems willing to modify his plan further in order to attract bipartisan support, as well as to staunch growing public opposition. Congressional Republicans seem eager to compromise: tax and spending cuts are the price of their support. If Obama trades these cuts for GOP support, he will not only retain, and probably even grow, his popularity. He also would have implemented policies that would benefit the economy. As with Bill Clinton, Congressional Republicans appear willing to let a Democratic president benefit politically from their proposals for the good of the country, as long as they get some of the credit, too.