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| Democrats' Momentum Is Stalling |
| 2007-05-05 |
| In the heady opening weeks of the 110th Congress, the Democrats' domestic agenda appeared to be flying through the Capitol: Homeland security upgrades, a higher minimum wage and student loan interest rate cuts all passed with overwhelming bipartisan support. But now that initial progress has foundered as Washington policymakers have been consumed with the debate over the Iraq war. Not a single priority on the Democrats' agenda has been enacted, and some in the party are growing nervous that the "do nothing" tag they slapped on Republicans last year could come back to haunt them. "We cannot be a one-trick pony," said House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), who helped engineer his party's takeover of Congress as head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "People voted for change, but Iraq, the economy and Washington, D.C., [corruption] all tied for first place. We need to do them all." The "Six for '06" policy agenda on which Democrats campaigned last year was supposed to consist of low-hanging fruit, plucked and put in the basket to allow Congress to move on to tougher targets. House Democrats took just 10 days to pass a minimum-wage increase, a bill to implement most of the homeland security recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission, a measure allowing federal funding for stem cell research, another to cut student-loan rates, a bill allowing the federal government to negotiate drug prices under Medicare, and a rollback of tax breaks for oil and gas companies to finance alternative-energy research. The Senate struck out on its own, with a broad overhaul of the rules on lobbying Congress. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #4 FREEREPUBLIC Poster > RACE TO THE LEFT > RACE TO USA's SELF-DESTRUCTION > GOP-DEM DEBATES IS BETWEEN LEFT VS FAR/ULTRA-LEFT, NOT Right vz Left, GOP vz Dem, etc. PEARL HARBOR > akin to Amers waving in celebration at Japanese attack planes, i.e. "Thank you for sinking our battleships, Thank you for killing and wounding our soldiers sailors, and civilians - make sure you come back and attack us tomorrow where we'll have more people, more ships and planes for you to shoot at, bomb and destroy. Iff you do enuff damage or casualties to us, we'll have a big fiesta in your honor. DON'T FORGET TO BOMB WAKE, MIDWAY, SAN DIEGO AND SEATTLE ON YOUR WAY HOME". |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-05-05 23:21 |
| #3 Well, there is Nancy P. going to Syria. That takes time. And then there is Harry. He's go to try to convince us that we have lost the war. That takes time. Don't forget the time it takes to bash Bush for everything from Katrina to the Kansas tornado. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2007-05-05 18:16 |
| #2 In the heady opening weeks of the 110th Congress, the Democrats' domestic agenda appeared to be flying through the Capitol: Homeland security upgrades... WTF? Can someone please explain to me how attempting to eviscerate the PATRIOT act, block legislation protecting passengers making reports to law officers, etc. constitute "homeland security upgrades"? |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2007-05-05 17:09 |
| #1 "People understand the Democrats in Congress are doing everything in their power to move an agenda forward, doing everything possible to change direction in the war in Iraq, and the president is standing in the way," he said. That's right! Even with control of both houses of Congress, you still can't get past the dumb cowboy! After all, he vetoed - what? - one bill this year? So how has he blocked all the rest? WaPo, front page, Saturday, too. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2007-05-05 16:05 |