New low in relations between Obama, congressional GOP

WASHINGTON — Relations between President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans have hit a new low.

There has been little direct communication between Obama and the GOP leadership on Capitol Hill since Republicans took full control of Congress in January. Obama has threatened to veto more than a dozen Republican-backed bills. And House Speaker John Boehner infuriated the White House by inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress without consulting the administration first.

But the dispute over Obama’s high-stakes nuclear negotiations with Iran has put the relationship perhaps beyond repair.

The president and his advisers are seething over Republican efforts to undermine the sensitive discussions with Iran, most recently by sending an “open letter” to the country’s leaders warning that any nuclear deal could expire the day Obama walks out of the Oval Office. “I cannot recall another instance in which senators wrote directly to advise another country — much less a longtime foreign adversary — that the president does not have the constitutional authority to reach a meaningful understanding with them,” Vice President Joe Biden, who spent nearly four decades in the Senate, said in an unusually harsh statement.

For their part, Republican lawmakers call their outreach to a hostile nation a reasonable response to an administration they say has spurned Congress and ignored its prerogatives at every turn. It’s the starkest sign yet that Republicans see an adversary, not a potential partner, in Obama’s White House — even on foreign policy issues where partisan differences have traditionally been somewhat muted.

“The mutual efforts to work together under this administration have just disappeared, so I think there’s a sense now that extraordinary things occasionally need to happen to be sure that the president understands how strongly the Congress feels,” said Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.

The dismal state of the relationship has largely sunk the slim prospects for bipartisan cooperation in Obama’s final two years in office, with one exception being work on international trade agreements that the White House and Republicans have long supported. And with Obama firmly eying his legacy, even his own advisers have conceded that a president who took office vowing to bridge partisan divides is virtually powerless to influence his political opponents.

“We don’t have the ability to communicate with them,” Dan Pfeiffer, Obama’s recently departed senior adviser, said in an interview with New York magazine. “They are talking to people who agree with them, they are listening to news outlets that reinforce that point of view, and the president is probably the person with the least ability to break into that because of the partisan bias there.”

Not surprisingly, each side blames the other for letting things get so bad.

To hear Republicans tell it, Obama has eroded their trust by going around Congress time and again with executive actions, particularly on health care and immigration, where he took steps as far back as 2012 to extend deportation stays and work permits to hundreds of thousands of younger immigrants in this country illegally.

Instead of easing up on the strategy after Democrats took a beating in the November midterm elections, Obama doubled down with a raft of new immigration directives affecting millions more immigrants.

At the same time, Republicans complain he has made few overtures to work with them since the election. The president and GOP leaders last met face-to-face on Jan. 13 during a meeting at the White House, and Boehner and Obama have not spoken since a phone call later that month. There has been scant contact between the president and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and a so-called “bourbon summit” that the president and majority leader had lightheartedly talked about arranging is on neither party’s calendar.

“They don’t want to work with us, they don’t want to do anything with us,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. “I mean, come on. I can’t imagine Bill Clinton or Ronald Reagan or George Herbert Walker Bush doing some of the things that they’re doing that make all of these things more difficult.”

The White House and Democrats blame Republicans, arguing they can’t find a way to compromise because of the outsize sway held by the most conservative, tea party-backed elements of the party. Boehner has had repeated difficulties controlling this group of lawmakers, finally passing a bill to fund the Homeland Security Department last week only with Democratic help. Democrats increasingly question whether Republicans treat Obama’s administration with the deference due to the presidency. The Iran letter was the most visible example, but some Democrats also chafed when McConnell penned an opinion piece urging states to ignore Obama administration climate rules.

The dynamic of a lame-duck president clashing with Congress on his way out is the door is not a new one. President George W. Bush struggled over Iraq troop levels and pushed unsuccessfully to pass an immigration bill. President Bill Clinton faced impeachment proceedings.

Republicans and White House officials agree they must find some way to get along well enough in coming months to perform the basic functions of government, such as raising the borrowing limit and extending the highway trust fund. Aside from potentially trade, there is little hope of bigger deals on taxes or anything else.

Yet even after a government shutdown and years of intense disputes over spending, health care and immigration, White House officials see Republicans’ aggressive efforts to insert themselves in the Iran negotiations as the opening of a new front in the fight between the parties.

“It certainly represents a new area that has previously been protected from such outright partisanship,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. “They’ve clearly moved into new territory.”

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

Olivia Vanni / The Herald 
The Mukilteo Lighthouse. Built in 1906, it’s one of the most iconic landmarks in Snohomish County.
The Mukilteo Lighthouse. Built in 1906, it’s one of the most iconic landmarks in Snohomish County. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Mukilteo mayor vetoes council-approved sales tax

The tax would have helped pay for transportation infrastructure, but was also set to give Mukilteo the highest sales tax rate in the state.

Marysville Mayor Jon Nehring gives the state of the city address at the Marysville Civic Center on Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024, in Marysville, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Marysville council approves interim middle housing law

The council passed the regulations to prevent a state model code from taking effect by default. It expects to approve final rules by October.

x
State audit takes issue with Edmonds COVID grant monitoring

The audit report covered 2023 and is the third since 2020 that found similar issues with COVID-19 recovery grant documentation.

Bothell
Bothell man pleads guilty to sexual abuse of Marysville middle schoolers

The man allegedly sexually assaulted three students in exchange for vapes and edibles in 2022. His sentencing is set for Aug. 29.

Larsen talks proposed Medicaid cuts during Compass Health stop in Everett

Compass Health plans to open its new behavioral health center in August. Nearly all of the nonprofit’s patients rely on Medicaid.

Snohomish County Health Department Director Dennis Worsham on Tuesday, June 11, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Snohomish County Health Department director tapped as WA health secretary

Dennis Worsham became the first director of the county health department in January 2023. His last day will be July 3.

Police Cmdr. Scott King answers questions about the Flock Safety license plate camera system on Thursday, June 5, 2025 in Mountlake Terrace, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Mountlake Terrace approves Flock camera system after public pushback

The council approved the $54,000 license plate camera system agreement by a vote of 5-2.

Community members gather for the dedication of the Oso Landslide Memorial following the ten-year remembrance of the slide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
The Daily Herald garners 6 awards from regional journalism competition

The awards recognize the best in journalism from media outlets across Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington.

Logo for news use featuring the municipality of Gold Bar in Snohomish County, Washington. 220118
Lynnwood man dies in fatal crash on US 2 near Gold Bar

The Washington State Patrol said the driver was street racing prior to the crash on Friday afternoon.

Thousands gather to watch fireworks over Lake Ballinger from Nile Shrine Golf Course and Lake Ballinger Park on Thursday, July 3, 2025 in Mountlake Terrace, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Thousands ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ at Mountlake Terrace fireworks show

The city hosts its Independence Day celebrations the day before the July 4 holiday.

Liam Shakya, 3, waves at a float passing by during the Fourth of July Parade on Friday, July 4, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett celebrates Fourth of July with traditional parade

Thousands celebrated Independence Day by going to the annual parade, which traveled through the the city’s downtown core.

Ian Saltzman
Everett Public Schools superintendent wins state award

A group of school administrators named Ian Saltzman as a top educational leader.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.