Pelosi-Reid tug-of-war

As Speaker, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) saw many bills passed by her House majority only to die slowly in the Senate. 

More than 400 measures that cleared the House in the 111th Congress fell facedown in the upper chamber. That frustrated Pelosi and many of her Democratic colleagues. She publicly blamed Senate Republicans, although there were only 41 of them last Congress (40 before Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., won).

{mosads}At times, there was tension between Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), which is a good thing. Conflict between the chambers is a staple of the political system.

What irritated Pelosi this week was that the Senate appeared poised to accept House Republicans’ stopgap spending measure to keep the government operating for two weeks.

Reid’s office on Friday applauded the House Republican bill, which embraces cuts backed by President Obama in his new budget. But Pelosi dislikes the Republican legislation, which seeks $4 billion in cuts.

She and Reid last month advocated keeping government funding at current levels, which has been standard operating procedure for continuing resolutions (CRs) in recent years.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) refused to sign off on a CR unless it cut spending. 

There will be more twists and turns this week as the parties seek to avert a government shutdown. On Tuesday, for example, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) said he wants a 30-day CR, not a 14-day measure.

Regardless, this budget battle is a test of wills. It poses political dangers to members of both parties on Capitol Hill, as well as to the White House. In many ways, the legacy of the 112th Congress will be decided by who wins the push-and-pull skirmishes between the House and Senate. 

Democrats triumphed over the GOP during the last government shutdown, outmaneuvering then-Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.). At that time, Boehner served as one of Gingrich’s senior lieutenants. 

Fifteen years later, Boehner is Speaker, while Gingrich is inching closer to a run for the White House.

According to a new poll conducted for The Hill, 29 percent of likely voters would blame Democrats for a government shutdown, compared to 23 percent who would blame Republicans. The poll also found that 43 percent would blame both parties if a shutdown occurs.

Should a bipartisan accord be ironed out, the biggest question will be: Who got the better of the deal?