At the urging of Sen Frist, the administration will say this afternoon that the president will veto the supp if it exceeds his emergency requests.
Congressional leaders, working with the admin, have laid out a near-term plan of action over the next few weeks to demonstrate accomplishment and leadership:
· draw a line in the sand on the supplemental spending, to provide a rallying point for members inside and friends outside to rally around. Addresses spending conservatives.
· Finish action quickly on the tax increase prevention act, which grows the economy with cap gains and dividends—with strong presidential involvement to help bring the deal to fruition. Addresses economic conservatives.
· Pick a circuit court judge for confirmation, bret kavanaugh or terry boyle. Addresses social conservatives.
· Get the house to get a budget done. Addresses governing conservatives.
· Draw attention to success in iraq. Addresses foreign policy conservatives.
· Tackle energy policy. Addresses conservative independents and working moms, key to our voting victories.
· Support border security. Addresses social conservatives.
· Finish broader immigration reform. Addresses need to govern, and finish action on presidential priority.
Producing some successes (taxes and budget and border security and immigration) demonstrates that Republicans with the President can govern—and govern on Republican issues. Picking some fights (circuit courts, energy, spending) serve to demonstrate that Republicans have been listening and do get it. Effort needs to be sustained and continued, but these are the cornerstones of how we begin to recover with a new team responsible down at the White House.