Bush, Pelosi talk of cooperation, but rifts loom on tax cuts, stem cells

WASHINGTON — President Bush, confronted with the reality of divided government, lunched with the two top House Democrats at the White House and vowed not to allow partisan divisions to hobble the remaining two years of his presidency.

After meeting separately with his Cabinet and the outgoing GOP congressional leadership, Bush laid out an agenda for the lame-duck congressional session that begins next week, including a nuclear-technology deal with India, a free-trade agreement with Vietnam and his plan to permit wiretapping of suspected terrorists without a court warrant.

But prospects for controversial items such as wiretapping legislation seemed remote Thursday, as the concession of Sen. George Allen, R-Va., made it official that the Democrats would control that chamber and the House come January.

Talking to reporters in her office after meeting with Bush at the White House, House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Democrats could still reach accord with Bush on the legislation but will insist on some kind of judicial review of each wiretap the Justice Department is seeking.

Still, Pelosi and Bush offered smiles and pledges of cooperation as they faced reporters in the Oval Office after a lunch of pasta salad in the president's private dining room. "We won't agree on every issue," Bush said. "But we do agree that we love America equally, that we are concerned about the future of the country and that we will do our very best to address big problems."

Pelosi, who will be the first woman speaker of the House in history when the new Congress convenes, said, "We both extended the hand of friendship."

The meeting was the first substantive discussion between Bush and Democrats since the election Tuesday returned the opposition party to power on Capitol Hill.

In recent years, Bush has largely governed without the support of congressional Democrats on most issues, and the new political reality will require him to work much more closely with Pelosi and the soon-to-be Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. Bush will meet with Reid and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., today.

Despite deep philosophical differences and sharp election-year rhetoric from both sides, the White House and congressional Democrats may share some interest in finding common ground on such issues as overhauling the immigration system, education and energy, according to lawmakers and administration officials.

Democratic leaders seem eager to show they can deliver as a governing party after years in opposition, while Bush is aware his final two years will be bereft of any significant initiative unless he can work with the party he demonized on the campaign trail.

Despite conciliatory rhetoric, there were flashes Thursday of the potential obstacles ahead.

In her interview with reporters, Pelosi also said Democrats will act immediately to reinstate lapsed budget rules, which mandate that any new tax cuts or spending increases be paid for with equal spending cuts or tax increases. That would all but shut the door on Bush's main economic priority, making his first-term tax cuts permanent.

The new House and Senate leadership also will quickly challenge Bush on stem-cell research, she said. Democrats expect to pass legislation early next year that would be almost identical to the only bill he has vetoed, a measure to expand federal funding of stem cells beyond the narrow line of cells already in existence.

The addition of 29 Democratic seats in the House and six in the Senate is probably not enough to override a veto, Pelosi conceded, but Democrats hope to "build public support for a signature."

But Pelosi and the No. 2 Democrat, Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., who also attended the White House lunch, indicated they came away from their meeting with a sense they could work with Bush.

In an apparent effort to demonstrate goodwill, Pelosi added that Democrats will take up the "innovation agenda" laid out by Bush nearly a year ago in his State of the Union address and pass his proposals to increase funding for basic scientific research and alternative-energy programs.