Deadlock
Democrats in the House are promising to implement a bold agenda over their first 100 hours. They expect to pass the 9/11 Commission recommendations; raise the minimum wage; make college more affordable; and advocate funding for stem cell research. However, there are some critically important issues House Democrats have left out of their agenda, because they are concentrating on things they think can pass and get substantial Republican support.
Democrats could be successful in achieving all of these priorities, but that is only the first step. A bill will have to pass the Senate, which holds the slimmest of majorities and if it pass the Senate the bill become subject to Bush’s veto. In the end only a few items on their agenda may make it into law, because it will be very difficult to override a veto of funding for stem cell research.
Raising the minimum wage has widespread support, but even that's not a given. Republicans are lobbying for more business breaks in exchange for their support, which could be a deal breaker.
On trade, Democrats plan to fight to protect American jobs, replacing free trade with fair trade, but many congressional Republicans, including Bush, vow to fight additional tariffs.
Democrats are not talking about health care reform, Social Security reform, and immigration reform, because they want to concentrate on things they can actually get done.
Iraq was the issue that brought Democrats into power and they have a mandate to do something about it, but the problem is there's not a lot Congress can constitutionally do about Bush’s ongoing military policy.
Democrats can make sure the cost of the war is evident by no longer treating military spending in Iraq as emergency spending outside the regular budget. Senate Democratic committee chairmen have scheduled hearings to look into what went wrong in Iraq and will carefully examine whatever Bush is going to propose.
There’s going to be deadlock on many issues, because the Senate is basically tied, which means deadlock between Bush’s veto and the will of the people.
Democrats could be successful in achieving all of these priorities, but that is only the first step. A bill will have to pass the Senate, which holds the slimmest of majorities and if it pass the Senate the bill become subject to Bush’s veto. In the end only a few items on their agenda may make it into law, because it will be very difficult to override a veto of funding for stem cell research.
Raising the minimum wage has widespread support, but even that's not a given. Republicans are lobbying for more business breaks in exchange for their support, which could be a deal breaker.
On trade, Democrats plan to fight to protect American jobs, replacing free trade with fair trade, but many congressional Republicans, including Bush, vow to fight additional tariffs.
Democrats are not talking about health care reform, Social Security reform, and immigration reform, because they want to concentrate on things they can actually get done.
Iraq was the issue that brought Democrats into power and they have a mandate to do something about it, but the problem is there's not a lot Congress can constitutionally do about Bush’s ongoing military policy.
Democrats can make sure the cost of the war is evident by no longer treating military spending in Iraq as emergency spending outside the regular budget. Senate Democratic committee chairmen have scheduled hearings to look into what went wrong in Iraq and will carefully examine whatever Bush is going to propose.
There’s going to be deadlock on many issues, because the Senate is basically tied, which means deadlock between Bush’s veto and the will of the people.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home