Bush, Lawmakers Take Up 2 Thorny Issues

Continuing his courtship of Congress, President Bush on Wednesday confronted polite but firm demands for reform on two issues that loomed over the last election: voting procedures and campaign finance.

Democratic and Republican congressional leaders who met with Bush at the White House said afterward that he seemed receptive to voting reform--an issue highlighted by the dispute in Florida that ultimately decided the presidential winner.

The congressional leaders, in remarks after the morning meeting, stressed that their talk with Bush did not rehash questions about the election’s outcome. “The election’s over,” said Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.). “We’re moving forward. And I think the president made that point.”

Later in the day, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) pressed Bush for quick action on campaign finance reform. McCain and his allies believe that the 2000 election cycle, which saw both the Republican and Democratic parties shatter all records for raising money, has given new impetus to their reform effort.

The meeting did not reconcile any of the key disputes between Bush and the reform effort, but McCain sought to stress the positive. “I come away with the distinct impression that he’s favorably disposed toward continued discussions on this issue and seeing if we can’t work out something with the belief that both of us hold that this system needs to be fixed,” McCain said.

This time a year ago, Bush and McCain clashed over campaign finance reform as they vied for the GOP presidential nomination.

McCain supports an outright ban on unlimited “soft-money” contributions to political parties. Bush last year charged that McCain’s proposal would cede too much ground to Democrats.

White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters that Bush’s opposition to parts of McCain’s legislation remains unchanged. But Fleischer added: “The process is beginning now. We’ll move forward.”

Bush and the congressional leaders also discussed his proposed $1.6-trillion, 10-year tax cut. The president told reporters that bipartisan meetings with lawmakers--now an object of great interest in the Bush presidency’s first week--would become a routine feature of Washington.

“It’s important for me to hear others’ positions,” Bush said. “It’s important for me to understand where there’s resistance and why. But it all happens with good, honest discussion, a frank discussion about positions.”

On his tax package, Bush said that he wanted to explain his position to any lawmaker who doubted its importance to him. “And I think the evidence is going to become more and more clear that the economy is not as hopeful as we’d like,” Bush said, “which I hope will strengthen my case.”

Wednesday’s meeting with congressional leaders quickly turned to sensitive political matters as Rep. David E. Bonior (D-Mich.), the House minority whip, called for reform of voting procedures after an election in which the punch-card residue known as “chads” became a household word.

Many Democrats, especially African Americans, believe that thousands of potential votes for president were not counted in Florida because of antiquated voting technology, misleading ballot layouts and other problems. News stories about balloting procedures and equipment in other states revealed similar troubles.

Bonior said that he and others told Bush “how deeply many of the American people feel about this election problem that we have and how disenfranchised they feel.”

Bonior added: “We ended the discussion with a concern that we need to move forward on this in a responsible, bipartisan way . . . and create the confidence that the American people want in the system that we have.”

There were immediate signs of an attempt to craft a bipartisan response.

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) said that he and House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) would create a select committee that would propose voting reforms in six to eight months.

Already, several Republican and Democratic lawmakers have proposed boosting the federal investment in voting technology and reviewing potential improvements in voting procedures from state to state.

In the strongest Bush administration statement on the subject to date, Fleischer said: “We can learn from what’s happened. The president’s very interested in election reform.”

Despite such assurances, reform efforts would face formidable political hurdles, such as the GOP’s traditional reluctance to have the federal government intercede in matters of state control.

Obstacles also abound for the campaign finance reform effort.

For several years, McCain has led a so-far fruitless quest to end soft-money donations--the largely unregulated contributions to political parties. Bills to ban soft money have passed the House but died in the Senate, largely because of Republican opposition. But McCain now appears to have more leverage after a presidential campaign in which he gained a significant nationwide following and several supporters of reform won Senate seats.

McCain reintroduced his legislation Monday and vowed to seek Senate debate beginning no later than March. Senate Republican leaders want to postpone debate until at least May so Bush will have more time to pursue his agenda.

After his meeting with Bush, McCain told reporters: “I was able to get my point of view across and my sense of urgency that we take [campaign finance] up at an early time.”

The president and the senator exchanged views on the controversial “paycheck protection” issue, which would require unions to obtain consent from members before making political donations. Bush has argued that such a provision would have to be part of any reform measure he could back, but such a proposal is anathema to the Democrats who form the bulk of McCain’s pro-reform coalition.

Also Wednesday, as Bush’s Education secretary, Rod Paige, was sworn in, California school officials were absorbing the president’s new education proposal. But it remained unclear how the plan, unveiled Tuesday, would affect the nation’s largest state school system.

With the exception of a Bush voucher provision, much of the administration’s test-and-measure plan is already in place in California. For three years, the state has required standard testing of students in grades 2 through 11. Results are used to help hold schools accountable. In extreme cases, schools that fail to improve could face state takeover.

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Times staff writers Janet Hook in Washington and Martha Groves in Los Angeles contributed to this story.