From the Wall St Journal:
As Congress tackles President Barack Obama's top two domestic priorities -- climate change and health care -- he faces some of his most serious challenges from fellow Democrats.
The narrow passage Friday of an environment bill came with nearly one in five Democrats defecting, and only after supporters from coal-producing and agriculture districts won concessions that eased the impact on business and aggravated some environmentalists. Prospects for the measure remain uncertain in the Senate, even though Democrats hold a 59-40 voting majority.
Some Democratic defections were to be expected. Republicans' argument that the cap-and-trade program would effectively impose a national energy tax on consumers and businesses was a message likely to resonate in conservative congressional districts won by moderate Democrats in the past two elections.
The friction is emerging despite the fact that Democrats hold the White House and overwhelming majorities in both the House and Senate. But Mr. Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are pressing an unusually ambitious agenda, and most of the Democrats' recent gains came from capturing seats in conservative areas, whose representatives are less likely to go along with his more far-reaching plans.
The question is whether the self-identified centrist Democrats will end up thwarting Mr. Obama's key priorities, or mainly act as an influence in scaling them back.
While lawmakers in both chambers craft health-care bills for votes later this summer, some Senate Democrats are whittling down provisions considered sacrosanct by liberal advocates, reducing proposed subsidies for the uninsured and opposing the creation of a government-run plan to compete with private insurers.
Democratic moderates' influence has been felt across an array of issues. Sen. Ben Nelson (D., Neb.) helped force a reduction in the price tag of Mr. Obama's $787 billion stimulus bill. Other Democrats forced changes to address business concerns about an initiative that would make it easier for homeowners to shed mortgage debt in bankruptcy court. Southern Democratic opposition has hurt the prospects of a law making it easier for unions to organize ...
The intraparty tensions are frustrating some Democratic leaders and activists, who believe they have an opportunity to enact a broad liberal agenda. MoveOn.org announced Friday that it is running ads criticizing Sen. Kay Hagan, a newly elected Democrat from North Carolina, for opposition to a publicly run plan as part of a health overhaul.
"Our 115,000 members in North Carolina, many of whom volunteered for or donated to her campaign last year, believe the public option is the heart of true health-care reform," said Justin Ruben, the group's executive director ...
The divisions inside the Democratic Party were on full display in the days and weeks of horse-trading leading to Friday's climate-change vote.
Even after those changes, passage remained in doubt. As the vote loomed, Ms. Pelosi plunged deep into the details, meeting at one point with a handful of lawmakers from timber-producing states worried the legislation isn't flexible enough to allow certain wood byproducts to be used to help generate renewable fuels. Efforts to accommodate those concerns didn't go far enough for Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, a centrist. The South Dakota Democrat voted against the bill, citing a range of concerns, including the "flawed definition" for renewable fuels ...
The bill ultimately passed 219-212, with 44 Democrats opposed. Eight Republicans voted for the bill. Democrats have a 256-178 majority in the House.
Mr. Obama and his top aides at the White House play down the intraparty tensions. "I think those 44 Democrats are sensitive to the immediate political climate of uncertainty around this issue," the president said in an interview with newspaper reporters Sunday. "They've got to run every two years, and I completely understand that." One senior Obama aide suggested the climate vote "has helped health care enormously," demonstrating that Congress is capable of confronting big issues. "It sends the signal to everyone that something that wasn't supposed to happen, happened," the official said.
But health care is also proving to be a tough fight.
Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, who has a long history of irritating fellow Democrats by deviating from party orthodoxy, is working hard to forge a health bill that can attract Republican support. Mr. Baucus hasn't released his bill, but said last week that he had slashed its cost to $1 trillion from $1.6 trillion, in part by trimming subsidies for the uninsured ...
Many Democrats detest those changes. But the Baucus bill may prevail over more-liberal measures -- offered by House Democrats and by Sen. Chris Dodd (D., Conn.) -- if it wins Republican support.
It is hard to quantify how many moderate Democrats serve in Congress, in part because alignments shift with every issue. But when Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana established a moderate Democrats' coalition earlier this year, he attracted 15 colleagues.
In the House, the conservative "Blue Dog Coalition," a group of mostly Southern Democrats concerned about fiscal responsibility, has grown to 52. The "New Democrats," who promote a pro-business agenda, are even bigger: Their membership grew to 68 after the last election, from 60.
This clout isn't lost on Democratic leaders, who are usually careful to court their moderates. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland serves as an informal but well-established conduit between Ms. Pelosi and the Democratic centrists. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel often reaches out to them as well.
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