President Obama is only two days into his first term and he is already experiencing friction between himself and Congress. Even though the Democratic Party holds the majority in the Congress, that doesn’t mean President Obama will be in absolute power. Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader, and Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, have both stated that their jobs do not constitute them to answer to Obama.
There is also tension between Congress and a new president, however, this time the Democrats possess the majority of Congress and the nation has a president of the same party.
Nancy Pelosi expressed that her major concern with Barack Obama is how he is handling the situation with Bush’s tax cuts. Initially saying that he would repeal Bush’s tax cuts, it is now reported that no cuts will be made until 2011. Despite Obama’s belief in not raising taxes during a recession, Pelosi still wants the tax cuts made by President Bush to be repealed.
With all of this taken into account, Pelosi will not be attempting to block Obama’s tax plans, but still wants to see something done with a system that she sees as detrimental.
The tension continues as Pelosi wants to investigate the managing of the Justice Department by the Bush Administration when Obama doesn’t see the priority in investigating on the previous administration.
Reid is sharing the same feelings as Pelosi. He too believes that the president does not hold final say in everything. As reported on CNN, Reid has been quoted as saying, “I do not work for Barack Obama. I work with him.”
In the face of Reid and Pelosi’s recent actions, Obama has said that he will not allow anything to slow him down. Obama also mentioned that he would not be afraid to veto any attempted blocks of his gaining permission to use the remainder of the bailout funds.
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