Obama’s choice

In a bipartisan move made in the wake of the Tucson, Ariz., shooting rampage, some Republicans and Democrats will break with tradition and sit next to one another during President Obama’s speech.

Obama, a former senator, will discuss the assassination attempt on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and probably reiterate his call for more civility in political discourse.

The speech will be fascinating because Obama has many choices. Does he spend much time on the partisan issue of healthcare reform, or focus more on areas where he and the GOP can work together, such as trade?

{mosads}One thing is clear: This year’s speech will be drastically different from his first two. Obama admitted Democrats received a “shellacking” in the midterm elections, and he has since changed his governing approach.

Obama has vowed to veto a healthcare repeal bill, which passed the House last week. He might not need to, at least not soon, for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has indicated he doesn’t plan an early floor vote.

But Senate rules allow the minority party to bring up amendments, and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will attempt to get a vote on a repeal measure as soon as he can.

Republicans don’t have the votes to pass a bill, though there are some Democrats from red states, including Sens. Jon Tester (Mont.) and Ben Nelson (Neb.), who might rather vote for repeal than against it, and better than either would like not to have to make that public choice.

Like Tester and Nelson, Webb is up for reelection next year. He hasn’t yet said he will run for a second term, but he criticized Obama for his handling of healthcare reform earlier this month, saying the president should not have let Congress write such massive legislation.

The House will vote this week on a measure to reduce non-security spending to fiscal 2008 levels, and also on legislation crafted by Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) to end taxpayer financing of presidential campaigns and party conventions.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is to hold his first hearing this week. The topic will be a new report from the special inspector general on the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The Ways and Means Committee, meanwhile, will hold separate hearings on pending trade agreements and healthcare reform.