There may be plenty of reasons for Senate Democrats’ surprising failure last night to finish up last year’s federal government funding needs. But among other things, the White House has been strangely disengaged from a debate that has now put the Democrats on the defensive over all of the earmarks in the omnibus spending bill.
Case in point: As of yesterday, Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, one of the leading critics of the earmarks in the bill, told me President Obama hadn’t called him to see what could be done about Coburn’s concerns. And neither had anyone else at the White House.
Why does that matter? Because Coburn is one of the few senators Obama worked with on significant issues during his short time in the Senate. Yes, their views are in direct conflict on most issues, but Obama did work with Coburn a lot on good-government issues — not just the 2006 law creating a database of federal spending, but contracting issues as well, such as cracking down on non-competitive contracts.
There may not be a wide range of senators who developed real working relationships with Obama, but Coburn is one of the ones who did. If there ever was an antagonist whom Obama should be able to just pick up the phone and call, Coburn should be one of them.
Instead, Obama has left his top aides to argue that the omnibus is simply “last year’s business,” as White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel put it, or “the finishing up of last year’s appropriations legislation,” in the words of White House press secretary Robert Gibbs.
“He’s going to have to decide whether he wants to lead on this or not,” Coburn said of Obama. “He can’t just claim that this is last year’s business. That doesn’t make any sense.”
Overall, the White House hasn’t shown much of a sense of urgency about getting the omnibus bill done. In this morning’s “gaggle” with reporters on Air Force One, Gibbs said he wasn’t sure what the legislative affairs team was doing about the Senate’s failure to pass the bill last night.
Granted, Obama has had plenty of other issues on his plate this week, notably yesterday’s health care summit. But ending an uncomfortable debate over earmarks — not to mention avoiding the embarrassment over Democrats’ inability to pass the bill even when they control 58 votes in the Senate — would seem to be a priority, too.
The narrow issue at play right now seems to be Senate Republicans’ insistence on having more time for amendments. So that part is up to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. But a call from Obama to Coburn — something to assure the Oklahoma Republican that he really is working to cut down on earmarks on future bills — could have had important symbolic value and perhaps stolen some thunder from the Republicans’ “veto the bill” talk.
Instead, that debate will now drag on into next week. By trying to duck the issue, Obama and his team have guaranteed they will have to live with it for a while longer.
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