Cheney to Face Nats Fans

Ronald Brownstein writes in the Los Angeles Times: "As the struggle over an immigration overhaul reaches a make-or-break stage in the Senate, President Bush has adopted a strategy of calculated ambiguity that some worry may increase the risk of a legislative stalemate. . . .

"The formal ' statement of administration position' on immigration reform issued Tuesday night only deepened the confusion. Within hours of the statement's release, senators sponsoring the two principal alternatives for handling illegal immigrants both claimed it as a White House endorsement of their approach. . . .

"[T]he statement says the administration 'firmly opposes amnesty' as well as 'an automatic path to permanent residency or citizenship.' . . .

"But because the Bush administration statement does not define 'amnesty' or 'automatic path,' both sides in the Senate standoff claimed validation."

War Oversight?

Bryan Bender writes in the Boston Globe: "Two House Republicans have agreed to cosponsor a landmark proposal to create a special House committee to investigate Iraq war spending, joining Democrats in demanding more accountability for billions of dollars that allegedly have been misspent, according to lawmakers and congressional aides."

Steven Thomma, Tim Funk and James Kuhnhenn write for Knight Ridder Newspapers: "If Congress ever turns against the war in Iraq, analysts may look back at this week as a turning point.

"Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., on Wednesday urged setting a May 15 deadline to withdraw U.S. troops unless Iraq forms a unity government, and even if Iraq does form a government, Kerry urged complete American withdrawal by year's end. His twin-deadline proposal makes the 2004 presidential nominee the most prominent Democrat pushing for early full withdrawal.

"At the same time, three Republicans in the House of Representatives endorsed a resolution calling for a robust and lengthy congressional debate on Iraq."

Whither Bush's Domestic Agenda?

Peter Baker writes in The Washington Post from Bridgeport, Conn: "President Bush tried to jump-start his legislative agenda Wednesday, summoning Republican congressional leaders to the White House to consult on strategy and then flying here to pitch his centerpiece health-care plan.

"With the White House preoccupied with rumors of further staff changes and Capitol Hill focused on the polarizing immigration debate, Bush tried to steer attention back to a domestic program that has largely languished in the two months since he unveiled it in his State of the Union address. . . .

"Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), who is crucial to any tax legislation, has all but declared the proposal dead for the year."

Not to mention, as Baker points out, that Bush's plan looks small-bore compared to "the new legislation passed this week in next-door Massachusetts, which is set to become the first state to require that all residents obtain health insurance just as all drivers must have automobile insurance. Bush did not directly address the Massachusetts plan."