The White House also knows it has to move quickly. Administration officials believe there will be only about six months to move on the bipartisan agenda that Obama and his aides have identified around trade, infrastructure funding and perhaps even sentencing reform or early childhood education, before the 2016 presidential race takes center stage.
An early test of whether Obama and McConnell can find common ground will come in the lame-duck session over confirming the president’s roughly 275 stalled nominees. The White House has been quietly working with the offices of McConnell and Reid on a deal to approve many of them — as well as the sweeping omnibus appropriations bill that some fear could be held up as a demonstration of Republican opposition to Obama’s push on immigration. McConnell doesn’t want another government shutdown yet plans to take a tough line on the upcoming immigration order. On Friday, Republican officials began privately discussing ways to disentangle the budget from the immigration fight, possibly by offering separate legislation next year.
There are some small signs the White House is willing to compromise: The administration has withdrawn Sharon Block’s controversial nomination to head the National Labor Relations Board and has intentionally not demanded the Senate confirm Loretta Lynch as attorney general in the lame-duck session.
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