Federal Legislative Strategy

Open email to House Speaker Boehner and Senate Majority Leader McConnell:

Dear Speaker Boehner and Sen. Majority Leader McConnell,
What I'm about to say is undoubtedly already known to you, but the purpose of my reiteration is to strongly bring it to your attention, so that you will act on it
The recent federal election has put Republicans, of which you are part, in the majority at both the House and Senate. However, this is not the time to be grandstanding on trying to pass legislation concerning which you have long-standing emotional attachment.
The fact is that with the presidential veto and the support of Democrats in both the House and Senate, you are effectively stymied when trying to pass any significant legislation.
However, you have a choice, which will allow the probability of some success and the possibility of great success in some areas, without re-signing to temporary defeat and hoping for a better climate with the possibility of a Republican president in 2016. The only present possibilities for success lie in avoiding or overcoming a presidential veto.
Pres. Obama has said that he will veto any House/Senate legislation involving the Keystone pipeline, a 30 hour work week for Obama care, a defunding of Obama care, and tax breaks for businesses. You can be certain that he is serious about this. However, if your polling of House and Senate votes on any of these topics gives an indication that you can obtain enough Democrat support to overcome a veto two-thirds majority in both Houses, then I agree to push it. But, I doubt that this will happen.
The alternative is to start at the bottom, rather the top. Find some areas on any topic which you believe is even reasonably important to your overall strategy of jobs, business, etc., and test the White House on a prospective veto. If Obama indicates he will not be opposed to the proposed legislation, work on it. If Obama indicates he will veto the proposed legislation and you think you can garner enough votes in both houses to overcome the veto, also work on it. If it looks like the veto will hold, forget the proposal and go to something else.
If you start to achieve any kind of success in passing anything, you will be creating a favorable atmosphere, no matter how insignificant the legislation may be, and then you can slowly push your way up into higher relevancy items with a higher probability of either avoiding a presidential veto or obtaining enough votes to overcome the veto.