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 Not long afterward, Boehner, the Republican Speaker of the House,
dispatched a top healthcare adviser to a secret meeting with his
counterpart working for Pelosi, the Democratic leader.
The Boehner aide's mission, according to a source who asked not to
be identified, was to determine whether Pelosi might be willing to
collaborate on major legislation.
Two months later, after scores of private conversations and hard
bargaining, the work by America's political odd couple bore fruit
with a 392-37 House vote to overhaul the Medicare program that
delivers healthcare for the elderly and disabled, including fixing
for good its troubled formula for paying physicians.
Still, the rare example of bipartisan cooperation is unlikely to
signal smooth sailing for daunting matters facing Congress in coming
months, including a series of fiscal challenges and a major
infrastructure bill.
Many of those familiar with the Medicare overhaul negotiation called
it a unique circumstance not easily replicated. One House Republican
aide said the two leaders caught "lightning in a bottle here."
 The Senate and President Barack Obama must still approve the
overhaul for it to become law, but Obama has signaled his support
and the lopsided House vote is expected to propel its passage
through the upper chamber.
The Republican-controlled Congress has struggled to achieve major
legislative successes due to Democratic opposition and as Boehner
has labored to control his party's "Tea Party" fiscal conservatives.
Gridlock over national security funding, and Republican fights over
abortion and border security have raised questions over the party's
promise to govern effectively.
"Don’t look now, but we are actually governing," said Republican
Representative Renee Ellmers after Thursday's vote.
ROCKY BEGINNING
Things got off to a rough start at the initial January meeting of
Boehner and Pelosi aides, joined by Republican and Democratic staff
from social program oversight committees.
That was the case despite Boehner's emissary signaling a concession
at the outset: No longer would Boehner insist that the full, $214
billion cost of the initiative be offset with savings elsewhere,
according to the source.
Instead, only part of the cost would have to be paid for, as long as
the final product also included long-term structural changes to
Medicare that Republicans badly wanted.
In Boehner's favor was widespread support, even among many
Republican fiscal hawks, for an end to a string of temporary fixes -
17 times in the last 12 years - that prevented deep cuts in doctor
payments that could have strangled Medicare.
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Other upcoming bills over borrowing and spending carry far higher
national stakes and go to the heart of the fiscal issues that
Congress appears ever more divided over.
Pelosi did not let the initiative stall, agreeing to what would
become an eight-week struggle for a bill that also ended up
containing important Democratic priorities. One, for instance, was a
two-year extension of healthcare for children from low-income
families and community health centers.
Pelosi's lieutenant, Representative Steny Hoyer, said of the
emerging deal, "I would like a four-year extension ... we don't have
the votes. Two is better than zero."
As the negotiations neared an end last week and Senate Democratic
Leader Harry Reid pressured Pelosi to squeeze more out of Boehner on
programs for the poor, and to further scale back Republican
anti-abortion language, Pelosi held tough, according to a Senate
Democratic leadership aide.
Push too far, she warned Democrats, and Boehner would kill the
community health center portion of the deal. And that would likely
kill the entire effort.
The San Francisco liberal's performance prompted Boehner to praise
her in a closed-door meeting of House Republicans, whose more
conservative members view Pelosi as toxic, said a source.
She fought to hold the deal together, in part, to achieve a larger
goal, a Senate aide said.
"Pelosi wanted the deal to create what could become a new dynamic
over there and assert her relevance" in upcoming legislative
battles," the aide said.
As for the Democrats, they wonder whether Boehner has turned a
corner.
"The difference here is that he came to her first," before things
devolved into a slugfest, said the House Democratic aide. "It's a
departure."
(Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Stuart Grudgings)
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