As Congress reconvenes, GOP remains under siege

WASHINGTON — Just when it looked like the political climate could not get worse for President Bush and the Republican Party, more storms have gathered.

This month's abrupt spike in gas prices is fueling new worries about the party's prospects in the fall elections, which have already been roiled by controversy over GOP policies on immigration, the federal budget and Iraq.

So when Congress returns today from a spring recess, Republicans face a political landscape even more challenging than when they left town two weeks ago after failing to pass legislation to crack down on illegal immigration and to curb domestic spending.

Since then, gas prices have shot up, to more than $3 a gallon in many places. Demonstrations against GOP immigration proposals have continued around the country. A new poll shows President Bush's approval ratings at new lows — and congressional Republicans' even lower.

"I don't see panic setting in yet, but there's certainly increasing concern when the president is in the 30s [in approval polls] and we're in the 20s," said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y.

Even Republicans who still believe the GOP will retain control of Congress are resigned to losing many seats.

"There's not any margin for error here," said Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich. "But I also think things aren't going to get much worse politically."

They may not, if only because Republicans' fortunes have already sunk so low. A recent poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found anti-incumbent sentiment running stronger than at any time since 1994, when Republicans gained control of Congress for the first time in 40 years.

GOP leaders in the House and the Senate hope to counter that complaint by racking up legislative accomplishments in the coming months. It won't be easy, because many of the problems before them, such as high gas prices and continuing instability in Iraq, are largely out of their control. Other issues, such as immigration and the budget, divide the Republican Party deeply.

The situation may call for Bush to step in and demand more party unity from Republican lawmakers, who have increasingly kept their distance from the White House as the president's agenda and poll numbers have flagged.

"The president has to be like Moe Howard: At some point in every 'Three Stooges' short, Moe slaps both Curly and Larry and says, 'Get to work,' " said Bill Whalen, a research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution.

In his radio address Saturday, Bush called on Congress to act on his proposals to boost U.S. economic competitiveness, promote alternative energy sources, overhaul the immigration system and support anti-terrorism efforts.

The spike in gas prices is especially worrisome in an election year because it hits voters' pocketbooks so immediately.

"It's no fun at the pump," Upton said. "What really scares me is that these increases came much faster than anyone predicted, and we may go much higher in the summer driving season."

Republicans worry that because their party is dominant in Washington, they will bear the blame for high gas prices.

"The Republicans are in power; Bush and Cheney are identified with the oil business," Bill Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard, said on "Fox News Sunday." "It's not a hard issue for a Democratic challenger to demagogue."

That's why GOP leaders are determined to strike a take-charge pose, even if there is little they can do to provide short-term relief for motorists. Last Friday, senior GOP congressional aides met with White House advisers to plot strategy. Today, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., plan to send a letter to Bush demanding an investigation of possible price-gouging.

Democrats are already trying to pin the blame for price increases on GOP energy policies that put more emphasis on oil drilling than on conservation. "We cannot drill our way out of this problem," said Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, giving the Democrats' radio address on Saturday.

Demonstrations around the country have continued to keep pressure on Congress to revamp immigration policy. The debate foundered in the Senate just before the spring recess, amid bitter divisions between the parties and within the GOP.

The House months ago passed a bill that would crack down on illegal immigration by tightening border security and by making it a crime to be an illegal immigrant or to offer assistance to one.

But in the Senate, a bipartisan group supported a broader approach that would also allow many of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants already in the U.S. to become citizens eventually. The bill stalled under fire from the left and the right. Conservatives believed it amounted to amnesty for lawbreakers; many liberals worried that Republicans would revert to a get-tough approach when a final bill is written in a House-Senate conference committee.

Lawmakers said they hoped the bill would be revived after Congress reconvenes.

Other issues promise to split Republicans in other ways. The Senate is scheduled this week to take up a $106.5 billion spending bill, most of it for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and for reconstruction of the hurricane-damaged Gulf Coast. The House passed a leaner version, making the Senate bill a target for GOP fiscal conservatives who object to its add-ons and extraneous projects.

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., plans a series of amendments to strip out such projects, including $700 million earmarked to relocate a Mississippi rail line — funding backed by the state's two powerful GOP senators, Trent Lott, the former majority leader, and Thad Cochran, chairman of the Appropriations Committee.

House GOP leaders will have a tough time passing a budget, which stalled before the recess amid party infighting. Moderate Republicans objected that the proposed budget allowed too little for education and other social programs; conservatives complained it provided too much. And Republicans on the Appropriations Committee objected to a crackdown on "earmarking" money for pet projects.

The House this week also is scheduled to take up legislation overhauling its ethics and lobbying rules, a response to the scandals that have roiled Capitol Hill. The bill would, among other things, impose a moratorium on privately funded congressional travel and deny congressional pensions to lawmakers convicted of violating the public trust.

Democrats have said the bill does not go far enough and have vowed to highlight ethics as an issue in the fall campaign.