House Democrats Charting Strategy to Confront Bush

House Democrats came away from their first closed-door strategy meeting of the new session of Congress with a growing desire to confront President Bush on contested issues, possibly including a proposal to cut Social Security payroll taxes.

No hard decisions were made at a two-day meeting in the nearby city of Columbia, Md., attended by Speaker Thomas S. Foley and a total of 160 of the 260 Democratic members of the House.

But a call by one congressman for Democratic caucus support of the plan by Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N. Y.) to slash Social Security taxes by $62 billion over the next two years drew a big round of applause.

Rep. Bill Richardson (D-N. M.), who made the suggestion, said it would be a “bold move” to show that the party had the interest of workers and middle-class Americans at heart.

Many Democrats were angered by the President’s statement in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that he would veto any such tax reduction if Congress approved it.

But Democratic Majority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) said the party’s leadership in the House wanted to study the issue more before deciding whether to support the Moynihan plan or variations that have been proposed by other lawmakers, both Democrats and Republicans.

“We don’t work for things that we don’t believe in or hope that someone will use the veto and save us from ourselves,” Gephardt said. “We want to know what we think as a group before we act. . . . We don’t think it’s a trivial issue.”

The Democrats at the Columbia retreat were jolted by pollsters’ reports that showed that many voters long associated with the party no longer believe it cares about the average American or the key issues of health care, housing and education that are vital concerns for the middle class.

Videotapes of citizens interviewed were shown at the meeting, along with polling results that indicated the national Democratic Party had lost or was losing much of its traditional constituency.

Afterward, the House members debated ways to improve their political image.

“This is group therapy,” one Democrat at the session said.

Rep. Vic Fazio (D-Sacramento), vice chairman of the caucus, summed up his reaction: “Apparently, we’re not getting our message across to Democrats and to people who once were Democrats. We can’t blame the media or the opposition--we have to blame ourselves.

“It’s time to sharpen our message,” Fazio said. “A growing number of members are no longer willing to pull their punches.”

One consequence may be that Democrats will push for legislation they favor without making concessions to get Republican votes or White House approval. A presidential veto of Democrat-sponsored legislation, some Democrats reason, will highlight the differences between the parties.

Gephardt, talking with reporters at the conclusion of the retreat, voiced sharp criticism of the President in what may be a forerunner of the new style.

Referring to the President’s latest reaffirmation of his “no new taxes” pledge in his State of the Union message on Wednesday, Gephardt cited the 1990 and 1991 increases in Social Security taxes provided for in the law.

“The President is for an increase in old taxes,” Gephardt said. “When it comes to the workers of the country, the middle class, he’s very much for increasing taxes.”