In the final weeks of the 111th Congress, it has been anything but a lame end of the congressional session for President Obama, thanks to big Democratic majorities that won't be around the next two years.
The Democrats have been working hard to push as many initiatives through Congress as they can before Republicans take control over the US House of Representatives in 2011, and they show no signs of slowing down — taking up several controversial votes during their final days.
This month, the president has made progress on issues that once seemed all but lost, including a trade deal with South Korea and legislation to lift a ban on gays serving openly in the military.
He even had a long, congenial meeting last week with corporate CEOs who previously have complained about his administration's focus on Wall Street regulations.
Six weeks after he acknowledged taking a “shellacking” in the November elections, observers now say due to his “lame duck” accomplishments, Obama may be on the verge of what may be a political rebound.
Last Thursday, the president scored a big victory in Congress when the House followed the Senate in approving a deal he struck with Republicans to extend Bush-era tax cuts for two years for all Americans, including top earners.
Obama then signed a tax cut extension deal that many analysts liken to a second stimulus bill that they predict will fuel the economy and reduce unemployment; the president also ended the military’s ban on gays serving openly by signing a repeal of the “don’t ask, don't tell” policy.
The Senate also is moving ahead on one of Obama's major foreign policy goals.
Passage of the New START treaty is looking increasingly likely as more Republicans agree to support the nuclear arms agreement with Russia despite the opposition of GOP Senate leaders, reported Tuesday’s New York Times.
On Monday evening, supporters of the treaty said they had the two-thirds majority needed to see it through the Senate.
Republicans tried to amend the treaty on Monday, but the Senate voted down those changes while Russia warned that it opposed last-minute tinkering. To bolster their case, treaty supporters trotted out the nation's top military man, Adm. Mike Mullen, who argued to senators on Monday that New START “enhances our ability” to “protect and defend the citizens of the United States.”
A bipartisan commission that Obama established last winter emerged this month with a blueprint for reducing red ink over the coming decade. Obama said he will consider the recommendations in proposing a budget early next year. The plan includes sweeping changes in tax and spending policies as well as Medicare and Social Security.
On top of all this, Obama may also get new health care legislation for 9/11 responders.
The “First Responders” bill, which would create a $6 billion allocation to pay for the medical care of those first responders still suffering from the after-effects of the 9/11 attacks, also looks like it may squeak through, too.
On Monday, New York's leading power brokers have challenged the patriotism of Republican senators who have been blocking the bill, urging them to support a bill that would give medical benefits to 9/11 responders sickened by Ground Zero's toxic dust.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg joined lawmakers, police and fire officials in urging US Senate passage of a health care bill benefiting 9/11 rescue workers.
The bill has been in legislative limbo since last Thursday, when Senate Democrats failed to win a procedural vote to open debate on it.
But on Sunday, the Democrats said they were hopeful they had pulled off "a Christmas miracle" by changing the bill enough to garner Republican support.
The James Zadroga 9/11 Health Bill — named after a deceased New York Police Department detective who had worked in the toxic plume at Ground Zero — seeks to provide free medical coverage for responders and survivors who were exposed to toxins after the attacks.
Joseph Zadroga, father of the bill’s namesake, asked lawmakers Monday to pass the measure so that first responders now suffering from working in the toxic conditions can “go on with their lives with dignity and honor.”
All of these bills being pushed through five-minutes-before-midnight in Congress, have caused conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer and others to suggest that Obama is the new “Comeback Kid.”
“What could have been a season of political navel-gazing and lamentations has been a productive period for the country,” White House senior adviser David Axelrod told reporters.
Even Republican pollster Jon McHenry agreed that Obama has had “a good couple of weeks” and may be regaining his footing after his party took such a drubbing during midterm congressional elections.
