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President Bush has taken a much more personal role in opposing Congress in disagreements over legislation this year than any other year of his presidency, a tactic that government experts say is necessary because of his weakened approval ratings.
Bush himself has made 46 veto threats during the first nine and a half months of 2007, compared to 28 such threats during the first six years of his administration, according to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
In total, the Bush administration has made 101 veto threats this year, as opposed to 63 during the 109th Congress and 61 during the 108th Congress.
While the particulars of how a veto threat is made may appear to be arcane to some, lawmakers and lobbyists notice the distinction. Veto threats made by the president are viewed as the most serious. Warnings issued by senior advisers are taken less seriously because they are couched in terms that give the commander in chief room to act otherwise.
For example, senior advisers often say they will merely advise the president to veto a bill, allowing the president to say later that he disagreed with their advice rather than backing down himself and losing face.
During the entire 109th Congress, Bush told Congress 13 times that he would veto legislation while senior advisers conveyed that message on 46 occasions, according to OMB. This year Bush has been the messenger almost as often as his top aides.
The torrent of veto threats portends a contentious end of 2007, during which very few bills are likely to become law and negotiations are expected to drag on until mid- to late December. It also means that Democrats will have to contend with a hostile White House during the final weeks of this legislative session.
Several congressional experts said that Bush has been forced into a defensive posture because of his low approval rating. They said that because he has very little political capital with which to broker deals on the Hill, he must settle for threatening to scuttle legislation to motivate Democratic leaders to negotiate with him.
“Even presidents with decent public approval run out of time and use veto threats to have some relevancy,” said Paul Light, a professor of public service at New York University’s Wagner School. “It’s natural to increase your threats over time as you run out of political capital. This very high level [this year] might be unique to Bush because he has so little else to trade. He has virtually nothing to trade.”
A Reuters/Zogby poll last week showed that Bush had a 24 percent approval rating, about as low as former President Nixon when he left office.
Bush’s defensive stance contrasts with former President Reagan, who, buoyed by approval ratings above 50 percent, forged compromises with a Democratic-controlled Congress to enact an impressive number of laws, said Kathryn Tenpas, a government scholar at the University of Pennsylvania.
A paper Tenpas co-authored in August reported that out of the four two-year congressional sessions during his presidential tenure, “Reagan’s last Congress was the most productive” in passing major laws.
Bush has had significantly more difficulty finding allies in the 110th Congress compared to the first six years of his administration. His lack of popularity was made most apparent by his inability to win over enough Republicans to pass comprehensive immigration reform earlier this year.
Yet Bush has not been without success. He has repeatedly gathered enough support to stop Democrats from passing laws enacting a date for withdrawing American troops from Iraq. He has also convinced many in Congress to accept the controversial parts of his security agenda, such as denying habeas corpus rights to terrorist detainees.
Norm Ornstein, a congressional scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, said that the number of Bush veto threats has skyrocketed disproportionately to policy changes under the new Democratic regime.
“It’s not that the substance of the policy has changed that much,” said Ornstein, who noted that Bush has threatened to veto almost every Democratic spending bill. Bush issued far fewer threats against Republican spending bills even though they also exceeded levels he set in his budget proposal to Congress.
“He tolerated spending far more excessive under Republicans than what he has under Democrats,” said Ornstein. “There’s a very different bar being set for congressional Democrats than congressional Republicans.”
Ornstein added that by taking a stand against Democrats on domestic issues, the president hopes to breathe new life into his home-front agenda, and perhaps shore up his support among Republicans in the process.
In the last three weeks, Bush and his advisers made nine veto threats, according to a review of statements of administration policy. Bush laid down three of those threats; his senior advisers issued six.
Sean Kevelighan, a spokesman for OMB, said that Bush has had to become more involved personally in legislative squabbles because Democrats have refused to work with administration officials after being alerted to their concerns with various bills.
Kevelighan said when Republicans controlled Congress, they wanted to work with the president.
“We’re in a different environment,” he said. “What’s clear with the Democratic congressional majority is that they are inclined to push veto threats to the limit in order to capture a political news cycle.”
Kevelighan cited the standoff over the State Children’s Health Insurance Program as an example. Bush administration officials told Democrats that the president would veto legislation that expanded the program by $35 billion over five years because he feared it would lay the foundation for government-run healthcare. Democrats sent the bill to his desk anyway and basked in days of news coverage focusing on his veto of legislation providing more healthcare funding for children.
Rodell Mollineau, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), disputed the assertion that Democrats are more interested in headlines than working with Bush.
“Sen. Reid for months has been saying he would like to work with the administration to move these appropriations bills forward,” said Mollineau. “In response, President Bush continues to level veto threats against bills he hasn’t seen.”
Veto Threats
President Bush Senior Advisers Agencies Total
107th Congress 6 11 4 21
(2001-2002)
108th Congress 9 47 5 61
(2003-2004)
109th Congress 13 46 4 63
(2005-2006)
110th Congress 46 52 3 101
(through 10/17/07)
Source: Office of Management and Budget; photo by Benjamin J. Myers
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