Bush tries to shore up GOP support for education reform

From Major Garrett
CNN White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush summoned House GOP leaders to the White House on Monday to shore up support for his faltering education reform bill.

Conservative Republicans have criticized the bill that they say spends too much, does not provide private school vouchers and fails to give states enough flexibility to spend federal dollars.

Vice President Dick Cheney joined the meeting, which included House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Majority Leader Dick Armey and Majority Whip Tom DeLay.

A senior GOP congressional aide said the White House had begun "to freak out" about prospects of the bill's defeat. The aide said White House concerns, while legitimate, were probably a bit exaggerated.

"I think we'll be able to pass the bill," the aide said.

The president's top education advisers also met with White House reporters to describe the virtues of the president's bill -- part of a concerted White House effort to deflect Republican criticism and make the case that the bills working their way through the House and Senate reflect most of Bush's education priorities.

"We're in the two-minute drill," said Education Secretary Rod Paige, who described the days ahead as "critical."

Domestic Policy Adviser Margaret La Montagne said the bill reflected Bush's campaign proposals to increase testing, provide flexibility to states, boost federal reading programs, and give parents with children in failing schools more public school options.

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"We are on the verge, we think, of an historic bipartisan breakthrough in education reform," said Sandy Kress, Bush's top education adviser.

He also dismissed rising public skepticism about testing, saying there has "always been some concern," but that it was more important that parents "know where their children are" when it comes to core skills such as reading and mathematics.

Paige acknowledged conservative Republicans are less enthusiastic.

"We have a very diverse system and not withstanding all the debate, this package is right down the center," Paige said. The secretary also said he regretted the White House "didn't have the votes" to pass private school vouchers but said he and other Bush advisers had worked the issue hard.

"I've done everything but tap dance across the table," Paige said.

Added Kress: "Absent the voucher issue, everything the president sought is in this bill."

Nevertheless, the White House has lobbied GOP leaders not to allow votes on amendments that could strip the president's key testing provision and could enhance state flexibility to spend education funds.

House leaders say they must allow votes on these amendments to give Republicans a chance to express their displeasure with Bush's bill. If they didn't, senior GOP sources said, House Republicans would be so aggravated they might join forces with Democrats and prevent the bill from coming to the House floor -- dealing the White House an embarrassing setback.

The White House is less concerned about passage of the president's package in the Senate, primarily because all policy matters have been resolved and all that remains is a debate over funding levels. Despite being repeatedly pressed, the president's education advisers refused to say how much it will allow Congress to spend.

The House is due to vote on the president's education package later this week. The White House is willing to accept up to 50 Republican defections in pursuit of a large bipartisan majority behind the president's bill. Senior administration officials consider education the best and most politically visible example of "compassionate conservatism" and say Bush has placed an exceedingly high priority on building bipartisan majorities.

Said another senior House GOP aide: "The president's making deposits in the bipartisan account and withdrawing from the Republican loyalty account."