GOP Bypasses the Bipartisan Truce

This war is hell for conservatives.

Republicans who want government to be as small and unobtrusive as possible have had to swallow hard as big spending increases and vast expansions of federal power have rolled through Congress in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attack.

But now many conservatives are pushing back. House Republicans on Friday threw bipartisanship to the wind and pushed a big tax cut through the Ways and Means Committee on a party line vote. Conservatives are fighting proposals to federalize airport security and to expand benefits for laid-off airline workers. And they are insisting that the new law enforcement powers sought by President Bush be granted only temporarily.

All that has put conservative Republicans at odds with congressional Democrats and, at times, their own president. It has slowed key elements of the national response to the Sept. 11 attack--bills to bolster airline security, to establish new safeguards against terrorism and to avert a recession.

Conservatives acknowledge that some expansion of government spending, bureaucracy and power is a necessary part of the nation’s response to war and recession. But they fear that the exigencies of the moment will become an excuse for an unnecessary permanent expansion of government.

And many conservatives have been worried that Bush has been too willing to make concessions to Democrats in the name of building a bipartisan governing coalition.

“Bush is approaching this crisis as a national leader rather than as a leader of his conservative base,” said Marshall Wittmann, a conservative analyst with the Hudson Institute. “He has to worry about a broader constituency, so many conservatives are chafing at the bit.”

Anti-recession legislation has been especially frustrating. Conservatives fear that Democrats are trying to use the bill as a vehicle for a vast infusion of federal spending--for benefits for unemployed workers, for highways and other infrastructure projects--that Republicans say has little to do with stimulating the economy.

Although administration officials continued to meet with Democrats and Republicans in search of a bipartisan stimulus bill, House Republicans decided to go ahead with their own legislation rather than wait for the administration to strike a deal with Democrats.

The Ways and Means Committee on Friday voted along strict party lines to approve a larger package of tax cuts for businesses and individuals than Bush had sought, along with an increase in unemployment benefits. Altogether, the bill’s cost was estimated at $99.5 billion in the current year--more than enough to turn the current $52-billion surplus into a deficit.

House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) had warned Thursday that such partisan maneuvering made it difficult for Congress to enact a stimulus package as quickly as economists say it should.

Also giving conservatives heartburn is legislation to shore up airport security by making federal employees of the airport workers who screen baggage. They argue that the result would be a huge expansion of the government work force--but scarcely any improvement in security.

“The last thing we can afford to do is erect a new bureaucracy that is unaccountable and unable to protect the American public,” said House Majority Whip Tom DeLay.

But DeLay acknowledged Wednesday that he lacked the votes to prevail and indicated he would oppose moving the bill to the House floor until he did. The next day the Senate unanimously approved its version of the bill, with provisions for federalization of baggage screeners.

On anti-terrorism legislation, liberals and conservatives alike are raising concerns about the expansion of government powers, with Democrats afraid that civil liberties could be infringed by expanded wiretapping and other law enforcement powers. This stance has put the conservatives at odds with the Bush administration.

Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft has asked the House to drop a provision for the automatic expiration of these new anti-terrorism powers after two years. But for conservatives ,that provision is the difference between a legitimate response to an emergency and a “power grab” by government authorities.

On fiscal matters, conservatives grimaced at what some considered excessive spending when Congress approved a $15-billion bailout for the airline industry and $40 billion to respond to the Sept. 11 attacks. But those measures were passed in the immediate aftermath of the attacks, when few would openly oppose such expenditures.

“We understand these are extraordinary times,” said Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-Ariz.) “This is not business as usual.”