By
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - By the numbers, the congressional scorecard for President Bush's first 100 days in office includes all 535 lawmakers invited to the White House, the Cabinet confirmed in full and one substantive piece of legislation signed into law.
And high-priority tax and education bills are undergoing renovation in Congress, their outcome to be determined over the next 100 days.
"The good news for us is that Congress, on our agenda, is moving pretty rapidly," says Karl Rove, Bush's chief political strategist.
The bad news for the new administration is that the Senate is divided 50-50 along party lines, and Democrats have warmed quickly to the task of opposing the president. That leaves little margin for administration error, as evidenced by the two tie-breaking votes cast by Vice President Dick Cheney so far, as well as a jarring defeat in which the Senate sliced $400 billion off Bush's $1.6 trillion, 10-year tax cut.
"The budget experience was pure confrontation," Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota said yesterday. "Their strategy, of course, was to peel off a couple of Democrats and they lost."
The opposite has been true on education, the second high-profile issue Bush presented to Congress.
"We've come a long way together. Education is the president's priority, and it's our priority, too," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, of Massachusetts, senior Democrat on the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
The two parties remain far apart on education funding, but Kennedy said, "I'm confident that we can reach agreement on the remaining issues."
With other controversial issues just over the horizon - legislation to strengthen the rights of HMO patients; prescription drug coverage under Medicare; a minimum wage increase - Democrats in particular will be watching to find out whether the White House is striving for party-line passage or bipartisan cooperation.
Democratic leaders intend to mark Bush's first 100 days with a news conference this week at which, party sources say, they will accuse the president of largely spurning bipartisanship.
Education and taxes aside, Bush has already found himself dealing with issues that were low on his agenda. Answering pressure from Senate Republicans, he signed legislation to roll back Clinton-era guidelines for workplace injuries arising from repetitive motion.
He issued principles for campaign finance legislation, but the Senate largely ignored them. Bush indicated he might sign the bill anyway.
Bush has labored hard to establish friendly relations with Congress, including Democrats who are openly resentful of his victory in last winter's 36-day recount.
"I'm here to tell the country that things will get done, that we're going to rise above expectations, that both Republicans and Democrats will come together to do what's right for America," Bush said at a luncheon in the Capitol on Inauguration Day.
Nearly 300 lawmakers have been to the White House, and Bush flew to Pennsylvania one weekend to appear at a closed-door House Democratic retreat. The president has invited all 535 members of Congress to lunch at the White House next week to mark his 100 days in office.
Bush has also demonstrated a personal touch, and not only by bestowing nicknames on lawmakers. He invited House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri to a birthday lunch and gave him a cake and a book about baseball great Joe DiMaggio. He had Kennedy and his extended family to the White House to watch a new movie about the Cuban Missile Crisis, John F. Kennedy's greatest triumph as president.
"The president has changed the tone in Washington - he's raised it," House Majority Leader Dick Armey of Texas wrote in a memo to the GOP rank and file earlier this month.
Republican unity has been striking.
The president's budget drew the support of all but three Republicans in the House, and legislation to implement his across-the-board tax cuts and marriage penalty relief drew unanimous support from the House GOP.
In the Senate, all 50 Republicans supported John Ashcroft in his bruising, successful battle for confirmation as attorney general.
The tax cut drew the support of all but two or three Republicans. But with Democrats almost unanimous in their opposition, the Senate voted to shave $400 billion off the cut.
