The Clock is Running

The clock is now running on the five point agenda the House Democrats want to pass in the first 100 hours of House legislative time. As the clock runs during the next few days, you can follow the countdown on the Nancy Pelosi House page.

The five points are embodied in House Resolutions numbered 1 to 5, and cover raising the minimum wage, promoting stem cell research, requiring Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices, cutting interest rates on student loans, and repealing subsidies to Big Oil and investing the savings in renewable energy.

The Democrats know their position on these issues is aligned with the majority of Americans and is contrary to the Bush Administration. Simply put, the Democrats and American majority value the contribution of low wage workers, worthwhile medical research, our government not succumbing to drug profiteers, reasonable opportunity for a college education, and making Big Oil pay its fair share. By contrast, the Bush Administration favors employer profit over living wages, religious fundamentalism over curing illness, drug profits over fair negotiation, money lenders over students, and Big Oil profits over fair tax burdens and a wise energy policy.

Some House Republicans will try to water down the Resolutions, but the Democrats will get them passed quickly. These are shots across the bow of House Republicans and Bush, letting them know the House Democrats are taking the lead in making legislative progress on these issues on which the American majority wants action, and requiring Republicans to show their true colors. Time, more than the 100 hours, will tell what legislation the House actually passes, then what the Senate does on the same issues and eventually what passes both chambers and is submitted to Bush to see whether he vetoes anything. Bush is so consumed with the mess he created in Iraq, tonight presenting his ridiculous surge solution, that it is unlikely he will take a very active role interfacing with Congress on these matters. Most people think he would stick with his stem cell veto, but it is not clear how veto prone he is in the other areas.

It will be interesting to see how many Republicans move toward the Democratic position on these five issues. Worthwhile legislation, negotiated and passed with a veto-proof margin, would send perhaps the final necessary message to Bush - that he has lost the support not only of the American people but also of the Republican minority in Congress.