Thursday, May 08, 2008

John Stanton

Roll Call

By forcing a vote on the GOP energy package, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) finally made good on his party’s vow to use the chamber as a platform to highlight their “proactive” agenda rather than simply play defense.

McConnell’s decision Wednesday to offer the energy package as an amendment to a flood control bill — and subsequently file cloture on it — sets up a vote that Republicans will cast as a showdown over gas prices and energy production, two issues on the voters’ minds.

Senior GOP leadership aides said the move is in response to Democrats accusing Republicans of obstructionist tactics and Democrats’ intention to run out the clock on judicial and executive branch nominations, as well as all but must-pass legislation.

McConnell and his Conference have found themselves largely on the defensive, and as a result, these aides said, Republicans are aiming for a more confrontational approach to highlight their agenda.

Aides and lawmakers said the uproar over gas prices has emboldened many Members who otherwise might look for areas to compromise. “There’s a belief that the politics of this are changing,” Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) said. “Republicans must be able to say ‘We’re offering up a solution to the gas crisis that is comprehensive.’”

According to one senior aide, the strategy, which McConnell, Minority Whip Jon Kyl (Ariz.) and Senate Republican Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander (Tenn.) outlined during the GOP retreat in January, is “much more palatable to people because in the last few weeks we’ve had nothing but cloture votes. … And the reality is that people back home are screaming for results and the Democrats aren’t scoring any points.”

Over the past two weeks, GOP lawmakers have taped 28 television and 16 radio interviews as part of the energy push, while Alexander has counseled his Conference to stick to a short set of easy-to-remember, concise talking points on energy production, conservation and environmental stewardship. Those efforts set the stage for McConnell’s parliamentary step on Wednesday. A Conference source said, “What you saw was Senate leadership using legislative maneuvering to make [it] more than just messaging, but to take it to the next level.”