By Edward Epstein Congressional Quarterly
During her 31 months as Speaker Nancy Pelosi has not been hesitant to set deadlines to cajole and pressure House members to take up and pass major pieces of legislation. But that strategy ran aground when the House left town without a floor vote on the sweeping health care overhaul that Pelosi said was her goal before the long August recess.
Instead she had to settle for completion of committee work on the legislation that is the top domestic policy goal of Pelosi and President Obama who also had pushed unsuccessfully for passage by the recess.
The Houses delay in finalizing a bill has some members of the House saying that Pelosis high-wire strategy setting a deadline and then forcing dissents in her caucus to fall in line isnt always the best course. But others say such deadlines are a vital part of successful legislative leadership.
Pelosi herself says that without a deadline the progress that Democrats have made toward long-elusive health care legislation would not have been possible. Whats more she gave no indication that the use of deadlines and high-pressure tactics to make legislative deals wont be a key ingredient in her future stewardship of the House.
If we didnt have a deadline we wouldnt be as far along as we are now with two committees reporting out health care legislation a third on the verge of doing so" she said.
Her comments followed days of intense negotiations with moderate Democrats who had stalled the Energy and Commerce Committee action on the health care bill (HR 3200). An agreement between the members of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition and the leadership allowed work to continue July 30 and the committee approved the bill on July 31.
No without some goals and milestones and the rest I dont think we could have achieved anything as great as we have achieved to date preparing us to go forward" Pelosi said admitting disappointment that the House did not meet her goal of a pre-recess vote on a bill. She now says she expects a floor vote shortly after Congress returns in early September.
In this Congress alone Pelosi D‑Calif. has used deadlines to corral support and keep her caucus largely unified on such key votes as the $787 billion stimulus package (PL 111-5) and the sweeping climate change bill (HR 2454) which passed narrowly 219-212 on the last day before the July Fourth break.
She pushed ahead on the climate change measure which includes a cap-and-trade measure for carbon emissions that Republicans labeled as an energy tax" over the advice of some Democrats who thought she should focus her attention on health care this summer.
The effort to round up enough votes for that energy bill led to many individual deals between Democratic leaders and wavering members and might have placed some freshman Democrats from competitive districts in a difficult position for their 2010 re-election campaigns.
Disciplined and Exact
Pelosis penchant for setting deadlines stems from her disciplined approach to legislating said Marc Sandalow author of a 2008 biography of the Speaker.
Historically she always told people she wouldnt risk taking votes that she might lose and she has always been very disciplined and exact" he said. She always knows where the votes are and knows how to produce the needed votes without leaving anything to chance."
Such dealmaking coupled with a tough deadline that forces decisions was exactly the right way to go on the climate change bill said C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger D‑Md. a deputy majority whip.
The energy bill was the best example of give-and-take on legislation Ive seen in a long time" he said. Still he added a deadline cant always hold.
If I were Speaker Id set a deadline and communicate it and try to stick to it. But there comes a time when you cant" he said. If we need more time the most important thing is to get it right."
Rep. Sam Farr D-Calif. said that without deadlines to force decisions legislatures generally wont act. Deadlines are absolutely essential. . . . Its very important for leaders to set them" he said.
But he added leadership cant always maintain those deadlines because of the idiosyncrasies of individual members" a reference to the Blue Dogs demands to bring down the cost of the health care plan and increase federal reimbursement to health care providers in their states.
The Republican View
Among Republicans who often used the same sort of high-pressure tactics when they ran the House there is some support for the use of deadlines with conditions.
Its wise to set deadlines if you mean it. But you should never set a deadline you cant keep or if that deadline works to your disadvantage" said Roy Blunt of Missouri a past Republican whip.
Many Republicans said that by leaving town without a House or Senate vote Democrats are guaranteeing themselves a tough time over the long August break. Critics including House Republicans who say Democrats are intent on a government takeover of the nations health care system will get a chance to pick apart their plan some GOP leaders say.
Democrats appear ready to leave town for the August recess with a so-called deal in hand. I think its safe to say that over the August recess as more Americans learn about their plan Democrats are likely to have a very very hot summer" said Minority Leader John A. Boehner R-Ohio.
Boehner is an outspoken opponent of setting deadlines for House action and he protested the hurried climate change bill vote by reading sections of it aloud on the floor on a Friday evening.
The worst thing you can do is set a deadline. Youre raising expectations" he said. You want to overachieve not underachieve."
Allen Boyd a Blue Dog Democrat from Florida agreed with Boehner at least in the case of health care. This deadline is not a good idea. We ought to have people negotiating in good faith and let them keep talking until they agree" Boyd said.
But Pelosi said she thinks that deadlines and negotiating with members of an ideologically diverse Democratic Caucus for their support are a key part of her job.
This is all in a days work part of the legislative process" she said.
