Democrats to push Republicans to go on record against key bills

“The challenges we had to address in 2009 ensured that the center of action would be in Congress,” said Dan Pfeiffer, the White House communications director. “In 2010, executive actions will also play a key role in advancing the agenda.” The White House is getting ready to act on its own in the face of partisan gridlock heading into the midterm campaign. “We are reviewing a list of presidential executive orders and directives to get the job done across a front of issues,”


White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters that the senators were "responding to both the political pressure of the president" and "to the political pressure from the American people." Reid never got McConnell's guarantee that the bill would be allowed to come to a floor vote. The revised jobs bill continues to include hiring incentives sponsored by Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah)."  (Note:  Early in Orrin Hatch's career, he introduced a constitutional amendment to overturn Roe v. Wade and once referred to Democrats as “the party of homosexuals.)  In proposing the new bill, Reid told reporters, "Republicans have to make a choice. I don't know in logic what they could say to oppose this." "We're not going to force symbolic votes that take 30 hours of debate on someone who is not going to be approved at the expense of a jobs bill."

The idea is to make Republicans either vote for a series of more modest bills identified as popular with the public or explain to constituents this fall why they opposed them.

The decision by Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) to offer a pared-down jobs-creation bill and dare the GOP to oppose it is the most visible sign of the plan so far.

White House officials and congressional staff members say it will be followed in coming weeks by a House vote to lift the antitrust exemption for insurance companies, measures to assist small businesses and extend unemployment benefits, and a proposal to levy fees on Wall Street banks that received bailout money. "If they support the measures, great," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal strategy. "But if not, the votes will show their hypocrisy and obstruction, which will demonstrate something in itself."

Source:
http://www.whorunsgov.com/Profiles/Orrin_G._Hatch
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/13/us/politics/13obama.html?hp

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/daniel_h_pfeiffer/index.html?inline=nyt-per
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/12/AR2010021205419.html?hpid=topnews
http://govpulse.us/