Kaine feeling optimistic Congress will get more done
His party lost control of the Senate and the White House isn't all that happy with his push for a congressional review of any Iranian nuclear weapons agreement, but by and large Sen. Tim Kaine is feeling pretty optimistic these days.
He's seeing signs that Congress actually wants to get things done – and that there might be room for legislators to put aside bitter partisan differences to act on issues that matter to the country.
One sign came two weeks ago, at about 3:30 a.m., when he won the support of six Republicans for a budget amendment that called for a combination of reforms to entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security, closing tax loopholes and targeted cuts in other spending.
The breakthrough, Kaine told the Daily Press editorial board Friday, was that he won the support of those six for an amendment that says savings would go to alleviate across-the-board cuts in non-defense spending, as well as in defense.
Many Republicans are willing to protect the Defense Department from the across-the-board cuts – sequestration – that will kick in beginning in October if Congress and the president can't agree on a budget.
Kaine thinks his amendment shows there could be grounds for a broad agreement to set aside sequestration and agree on a budget that legislators from both parties could support, including fellow Democrats worried about the social safety net as well as Republicans worried about defense.
"I'm often accused of being too optimistic, but I think you're going to see a lot more getting done over the next two years," Kaine said.
Bipartisan worries about defense spending could be one spur to action – including Kaine's concern to make sure the refueling of the aircraft carrier USS George Washington isn't threatened again, and his hopes that a replacement program for Ohio-class submarines remains on track and includes a role for Newport News Shipbuilding.
While cost overruns on the carrier Gerald Ford have drawn fire in Washington, Kaine said he's been hearing that the Pentagon and fellow legislators are intrigued by the way Newport News Shipbuilding and Electric Boat in Connecticut have cooperated to hold down costs of Virginia class subs.
Kaine noted that Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, has drafted him as well as Sens. Angus King, I-Maine, Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Roger Wicker, R-Miss., to work on targeted defense spending cuts that he can bring to the rest of Congress as a starting point for writing a budget that avoids sequestration.
Another is the effort Kaine and Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., are spearheading to win congressional review of any agreement with Iran to limit its nuclear efforts.
The White House isn't happy about that.
"The White House thinks of me as a little bit of an Article One fanatic," Kaine said, referring to the part of the U.S. Constitution that details Congress' powers.
But Kaine thinks it's vital for Congress to have a say, since some of the sanctions Iran now faces were imposed by Congress. It's also critical that Congress' review be orderly and reasonable, and not a political free-for-all, he said. And there are people on both sides of the aisle who agree, he added.
His months-long campaign to get the White House to go along with congressional authorization of military action against the Islamic State — also referred to as ISIS or ISIL — could be another area where a gridlocked Congress finds agreement, Kaine said. The president has accepted the idea and proposed an authorization measure, which the Senate is now tweaking.
It's possible that the nation's critical needs to improve roads, bridges and ports will also bring both sides in Congress together, especially if an innovative way to pay for that without just hiking taxes can be found, Kaine said. One approach is the infrastructure funding bank fellow Virginia Sen. Mark Warner has proposed, he said.
"You can always explain a yes vote or a no vote. What's harder to explain is inaction," Kaine said.
Since one key to the Republican victories that won the party control of the Senate last year was the complaint of inaction, the GOP majority now is under pressure to start accomplishing things.
And since the GOP majority isn't quite enough to cut short filibusters, Republican senators have an incentive to win at least a few Democrats' support for their measures – just as the Democrats had to do before with Republicans.
"I used to have to go and court them," Kaine said. "Since January, I've been getting calls from senators saying, 'Hey Tim, I want to come to talk to you about.…'"
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