Katrina recovery legislation providing another test for Frist

The Tennessee Republican’s performance in shaping and passing the Bush administration’s package could affect his political future after he leaves Congress next year, said Dr. Bruce Oppenheimer, a political scientist at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

“This is one more thing you put on your scorecard for Frist,” Oppenheimer told the Washington bureau of the Chattanooga Times Free Press. “Does he have the leadership to make a good presidential candidate, or are there better choices out there?”

Frist already has been challenged this year by the filibuster debate over judicial nominees in which he was outflanked by a coalition of Republican and Democratic moderates and his reversal to support more federal funding of stem cell research.

Norman Ornstein, a congressional scholar with the American Enterprise Institute, said Frist could make gains if he helps comes up with the right legislation to ease suffering from Katrina.

“This is a chance for him to step up to the plate. As majority leader he can show he is getting his house in order for the next emergency and show the American people Congress has learned something,” Ornstein said.

Frist, a surgeon, already has visited the Gulf Coast region to provide medical care as a volunteer. On Friday he and other senators were on a tour to review relief efforts in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi.

One reason for the trip is to help Republican leaders craft a long-term relief package that they hope to unveil soon, Frist spokeswoman Amy Call said.

“These are problems we need to put a lot of thought into to make sure we get the right solutions,” she said. “We are moving bills as quickly as we can.”

Senate Democrats have said the Republican-backed measures to provide $62 billion in recovery aren’t enough, while their bill to offer victims health care through Medicaid, a $2,500 per child grant for school districts receiving displaced students and emergency housing vouchers for evacuees is being stymied by GOP leaders.

“We had hoped the Senate would act on these items promptly, but now understand the majority will use procedural devices to hold them up,” Minority Leader Harry Reid said. “These victims don’t care about Senate procedures. They just know they need help, not more red tape.”

Oppenheimer said even passage of legislation may not benefit the political fortunes of Frist, who is considering a 2008 bid for president.

“I don’t know how much credit he is going to get,” Oppenheimer said.

Call said Frist isn’t worried about that.

“He is focusing on helping to solve the problems, not political warfare,” she said.