What Obama Could Learn From Bipartisanship In The Bush Era

What Obama Could Learn From Bipartisanship In The Bush Era

Everyone remembers that George W. Bush's first tax cut was contentious when Congress considered it back in 2001. So contentious, in fact, that the Bushies didn't even try passing it under normal Senate procedures. The GOP leadership, worried that it couldn't collect 60 votes to overcome a Democratic filibuster, relied on reconciliation, the Senate rule that allows budget-related measures to pass with a simple majority.

What fewer people remember is the margin by which Bush's tax cut finally passed the Senate. As it happens, the number of yeas was 62--including 12 Democrats. That would qualify as a bipartisan love-fest by contemporary standards.

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