IT WAS A morning of extraordinary political maneuvering as the president showed up on Daschle's home turf, the Senate, to claim that there had been an accord on a stimulus plan, while Daschle staged a press conference to dispute that claim.
Shortly after Bush arrived on Capitol Hill to speak to lawmakers, Daschle summoned reporters to announce that there still was no agreement on the chief obstacle: how to provide medical insurance to unemployed workers.
DASCHLE: NO DEAL YET
"We regret very much that our Republican colleagues, at least so far, have refused to come to the table to negotiate seriously on health and unemployment benefits in spite of the fact that millions of people are unemployed today," Daschle told reporters.
"We have come more than halfway in meeting our Republican colleagues on an array of tax questions," he added. "We're frustrated, but we're not going to give up. We're disappointed that we've not been able to achieve our goal, but we're simply going to stay at the table for as long as it takes to get this job done, as long as our Republican colleagues will continue to talk."
I don't think their efforts at trying to pull in moderate Democrats has worked," Gephardt said. He added the House would likely pass the GOP plan later Wednesday. "Obviously they have the votes to pass that," he said.
But Daschle made it clear that he will use his power as majority leader to prevent the House bill from coming to a vote in the Senate.
Speaking prior to Daschle's press conference, Bush struck an entirely different ...