President Barack Obama sets aside frustration over deepwater drilling moratorium tactic
President Barack Obama hailed Sen. Mary Landrieu as a "champion" Monday as he signed the Small Business Jobs Act the Louisiana Democrat had muscled through the Senate.
But that praise might have been mixed with a little pique at the hold Landrieu has placed on the president's choice to direct the Office of Management Budget. It's a hold she says she will not relinquish until the Obama administration lifts the moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and accelerates the issuance of permits for shallow-water drilling.
"Well, he gave me a little bit of a look, and I said, 'We're talking small business now, we'll talk moratorium later,' " said Landrieu, as she left the White House East Room following the signing of one of the signal legislative achievements of her 14-year Senate career.
"It's up there," she said of the legislation, which she predicted would transform a mostly jobless recovery into a "job-filled recovery."
Obama characterized the bill as "the most significant step on behalf of our small businesses in more than decade ... and once I sign it, it's going to speed relief to small businesses across this country."
After months of wrangling, the bill passed the Senate this month with the backing of two moderate Republicans not seeking re-election: George Voinovich of Ohio and George LeMieux of Florida.
"I regret that this was blocked for months by the Republican minority in the Senate, and that needlessly delayed this relief," Obama said. "But I do want to thank the two Republican senators who bucked this partisanship to help pass this bill, and, obviously, I want to thank all the Democrats who worked so hard to get it passed."
"This law will do two big things," the president said. "It's going to cut taxes, and it's going to make more loans available for small business. It's a great victory for America's entrepreneurs."
Republican House Leader John Boehner issued a statement moments after Obama's remarks saying, "If the president really wants to help small businesses, he should insist that Congress not leave town without cutting spending and stopping his tax hike to help create jobs -- particularly small business jobs."
Shortly after passage of the small business bill Landrieu, informed the president and her party's leadership in the Senate that she was invoking her prerogative as a senator to put a hold on the nomination of Jacob Lew as the new director of the Office of Management and Budget.
The nomination of Lew, who was OMB director under President Bill Clinton the last time the budget ran a surplus, was recommended by the Senate Budget Committee on a 22-1 vote, with only Independent Bernie Sanders, a socialist, voting "no." The Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee voted unanimously in Lew's favor.
Landrieu said she did not doubt that Lew should have the job. But holding up his nomination offered the most tangible means for her to try to wrest a concession from the White House and she grabbed it.
Sam Rosen-Amy, a fiscal transparency policy analyst at OMB Watch, a nonprofit research and advocacy organization, blogged that, "to be blunt, Landrieu's hold is both absurd and irresponsible" and could play "havoc with the budget."
But Landrieu is unlikely to relent. She has now outflanked the rest of the Louisiana congressional delegation in the lengths to which she is willing to go to try to end a moratorium.
While the administration is likely to lift the moratorium before it is due to end Nov. 30, it probably cannot happen soon enough to give the Senate a chance to confirm Lew before they break for the election recess.
Jonathan Tilove can be reached at jtilove@timespicayune.com or 202.383.7827 .