OMB chief: Administration won’t box in GOP legislators

Although he must deal more closely than ever with Democratic lawmakers who have seized control of Congress, President Bush will not act to marginalize Republicans by "triangulating" them, according to a top presidential adviser.

"This president is not interested in triangulating, period," said Office of Management and Budget Director Rob Portman. "It's not his nature. It's not his style."

Triangulation, a term that gained currency during the Clinton administration, is generally understood to describe a president boxing in members of his own minority party by embracing ideas acceptable to the ruling opposition.

Portman, who spoke during an interview with CongressDaily last week, acts as a senior Bush economic aide and also -- owing to his previous role in the House Republican leadership -- as one of the president's key ambassadors to Capitol Hill.

Portman noted that Democrats have narrow majorities in both the House and the Senate, so the White House will need Republicans. "It's more a question of finding common ground, particularly between Republicans and Democrats and us, than it is us finding common ground just with Democrats," he said.

But with Democrats in charge, it is unclear how much incentive Republicans will have to allow a functioning Congress.

Portman predicted Republican leaders would, in fact, seek to move legislation. "You always want to campaign on accomplishments," he said. He noted that Republicans "were very proud of" 1990s-era legislation such as the balanced budget act and welfare reform, for which then-President Clinton was able to claim some credit.

Portman called incoming House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, "a results-oriented legislator" who "prides himself on getting things done."

The shift to Democratic control is forcing some rethinking of how the administration positions itself in next year's budget debate, one senior administration official said. But it appears this has less to do with accepting Democratic ideas than figuring out how to advance Bush proposals.

"You do have to think tactically" when putting the budget together, the official said, indicating that some proposals would be written as an opening salvo designed to help achieve a final deal acceptable to the administration.

But the official said the budget would be consistent with the president's philosophy.

"It didn't change who we are," the senior official said of the election. "The budget is a statement of what the president believes in."

He said the impact of the shift in power would be felt less with respect to the administration's upcoming entitlement program overhaul effort, which would have required cooperation from Democrats regardless of who won the election.

"For the big stuff the president wants to do, which is take on entitlements, in particular, that's a bipartisan deal either way," the senior official said.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will take the lead with Capitol Hill on entitlement overhaul, according to administration officials, and on tax reform, though it is unclear if Bush will try to revamp the tax code.

Portman will play a strong supporting role as a lobbyist on these and other economic issues, but will act as a point man on budgetary issues -- including process reforms the White House supports and the adoption of a presidential line-item veto, officials said.

In the interview, Portman said he can work with Democrats next year on what promises to be a contentious fiscal 2008 budget process.

"In terms of the budget issues, often these things break down along partisan lines, but not always," Portman said. "Maybe I'm naive about this, but we're going to try to work together to achieve results these last two years."

But Democrats might find the famously affable Portman easier to like than the budget he will be brandishing.

"Our budget will be another tight budget," Portman said. "We also believe strongly we ought to continue the tax relief in place."

And though hardly used during his presidency, Bush's veto pen has not dried up. "The president will play his constitutional role," Portman said. "That includes the potential use of the veto, which is always there."

Portman said the White House might move again next year to try to secure the line-item veto, even with Democrats running Capitol Hill.

Last year, Portman led a successful effort in the House, where the legislation passed with the support of 35 Democrats. But he was unable to shepherd the provision through the Senate.

"I think we still have an opportunity, and the president is not going to give up on it," he said. "If we get the same people to support it again in the House who supported it last time, we could win it again in the House."

"We could never show 60" votes in the Senate last year, Portman admitted. But he added, "I to this day do not know that we couldn't have gotten 60 had we taken it to the floor."

He asserted that one reason the measure stalled was that Democratic leaders did not want to give Bush a victory during the lead-up to the election.

But some Republican appropriators also resisted the measure, he said.

As an emissary to Capitol Hill, Portman acknowledged that he has more contacts in his former home in the House. But he noted he has built relationships in the Senate, particularly during his tenure as trade representative last year and the early part of 2006.

Portman asserted that he has close ties on both sides of the aisle. Indeed, while in the House, he moved bipartisan bills, including pension legislation with Rep. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md., who will enter the Senate next month.

He said he has a good working relationship with incoming House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md. -- "he's a guy that likes to get things done" -- and with House Ways and Means ranking member Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., who will assume the chairmanship of Ways and Means next year.