WASHINGTON — The 111th Congress will convene this week determined to avoid the mistakes of two eras: the Great Depression and the Carter administration.
The first task for the Democratic leaders of the House of Representatives and the Senate is to contain the economic crisis by passing a stimulus package worth $500 billion to $850 billion. They’re hoping to complete it before Barack Obama is sworn in Jan. 20 as the 44th president.
On a parallel track, congressional Democrats who spent eight years in a confrontational relationship with President George W. Bush are shifting gears as they prepare to work with a president — and former senator — from their own party.
Obama plans to visit Capitol Hill on Monday and meet with Reid, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and congressional Republicans.
“While the economic situation is likely to be front and center, this will be the first chance for everyone to sit down and discuss the entire legislative agenda,” said Reid spokesman Jim Manley.
“I look forward to meeting with President-elect Obama . . . and I hope this is the first of many bipartisan meetings on the significant challenges facing our country,” House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio said in a statement.
Democrats want to make the most of their control of the legislative and executive branches and avoid the legislative, policy and personal missteps that marked the relationship between President Jimmy Carter and congressional Democrats when Carter took office 32 years ago.
Carter, intent on changing what he saw as a culture of corruption in Washington, assembled for his staff a team of outsiders who couldn’t work well with Congress. He distrusted lawmakers and went after appropriators’ pet projects.
He and his aides were accused of not returning telephone calls, not giving lawmakers notice when he planned to visit their districts, not developing personal relationships with lawmakers and being unwilling to make deals on legislation. Congress pushed back, and it cost Carter much of his agenda on consumer protection, energy and tax policy, welfare and some foreign policy.
“The economy is on everyone’s mind, and they have to show they’re thinking about what to do at this point. That’s got to be issue No. 1,” said Julian Zelizer, a Princeton University history professor.
“But just as important is getting the groundwork ready to work with the new president. They’re desperately trying to avoid another Jimmy Carter situation.”
Congressional Republicans, struggling to rebuild their party, have their own challenge: how to be an effective voice of dissent against a party whose incoming president starts with huge approval ratings and the public’s call for change.
The Senate has been preparing for confirmation hearings on Obama’s Cabinet picks.
Eric Holder, the nominee for attorney general, expects questions about his involvement in President Bill Clinton’s pardon of tax fugitive Marc Rich. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, the nominee for commerce secretary, might face questions about a grand jury probe of a donor who’s being investigated for “pay-to-play” dealings.
So far, Democrats are supporting Obama’s nominees and Republican objections appear modest.
Obama’s transition team and House and Senate members also are discussing how quickly to proceed with legislation involving equal pay for women, more relief for homeowners facing foreclosure, stem-cell research, children’s health insurance and offshore oil drilling.
Congress will engage with Obama on the Iraq war and other foreign-policy issues once he takes office.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and House Minority Leader Boehner are positioning themselves as watchdogs against wasteful stimulus spending. Both issued statements predicting that Democrats would seek as much as $1 trillion and demanding that Republicans be fully included in shaping the terms.
McConnell said he wanted a minimum of a week to review the Democrats’ plan.
“Surely, the Democrat leadership in Congress doesn’t plan to spend a trillion dollars of taxpayer money — nearly $10,000 in new debt for everyone who pays federal income tax, charged to the credit card for our children to pay — without safeguards, without appropriate hearings to scrutinize how tax dollars are being spent,” he said. “Without proper oversight and safeguards, a trillion- dollar spending bill invites fraud and waste on a massive scale.”
