Ronald Reagan was known as the Teflon President. He maintained his popularity even during times when the economy cratered and his administration was involved in the Iran-Contra scandal.

President Bush doesn’t have a Teflon shield, exactly. The problems he has experienced in Iraq and with the economy have kept his approval ratings below 40 percent for most of his entire second term.

That makes his sway over the Democratic majorities in Congress all the more remarkable. We have to come up with a Teflon-like term for a president who can wield such influence over Capitol Hill with such a weak hand.

He is at it again with the economic stimulus package. A couple weeks ago, I wrote that a prominent House member, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Massachusetts and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, intended to make an extension of unemployment benefits a key part of stimulus.

But Bush was able to forge an agreement with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, and Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, that focused stimulus on tax cuts and rebates while excluding unemployment benefits. It was approved with strong bipartisan support by the House on Tuesday, January 29.

Just as Bush prevailed over Democrats who wanted to expand a children’s health insurance program and those who wanted to set a deadline for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, he is doing so now on stimulus.

It’s true that a faltering economy is in large part fostering a spirit of cooperation between the White House and Capitol Hill. When they face voters this fall, House members want to point to passage of a nearly $150 billion stimulus package as proof that they tried to do something to prevent a recession.

It’s still noteworthy that the stimulus coming out of the House is precisely what the president wants. But as the issue moves to the Senate, we’ll see the real test of Bush’s mettle.

Sen. Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, has introduced a stimulus proposal that includes an additional 13 weeks of unemployment insurance for all workers and 26 weeks for those who live in states with an unemployment rate of 6 percent or higher. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Massachusetts and chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, also has proposed extending unemployment and increasing the payments.

The White House likely will push back. “The temptation will be to load up the [stimulus] bill,” Bush said in his January 28 State of the Union speech. “That would delay or derail it, and neither option is acceptable.”

So the clock is ticking toward the mid-February deadline set by both parties for congressional stimulus approval. Bush has little time to bring the historically unwieldy Senate around to his point of view. The task is made more difficult by the Democratic majority and the fact that Republicans, especially those up for re-election, probably don’t want to filibuster a stimulus bill.

Baucus was hopeful earlier this week. “I’m pleased the president has shown a willingness to work with Congress to boost America’s economy,” he said in a statement after the State of the Union address. “I hope that desire to work together will extend to the proposals the Finance Committee will consider this week.”

It’s always difficult to predict what will happen in Washington. But if Bush persuades—or somehow strong-arms—the Senate into abandoning an extension of unemployment benefits, it will be a development worthy of analysis in political science classes.