The first 100 days if Democrats win

[one...two...tree 2,762]

If Dems take over the House ...

USA Today

WASHINGTON — A Democratic takeover of the U.S. House would put more women and minorities in positions of power, as well as more senior citizens. That much is certain.

What else a Democratic majority might bring is a topic of heated debate as the campaign for control of Congress moves into its final days.

Democrats say it will mean longer workweeks in the House of Representatives to pass tax cuts for the middle class and to devise a strategy to get U.S. troops out of Iraq. They promise more time in the hot seat for members of the Bush administration. "We have a broad agenda," says Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., a co-chairman of his party's House campaign.

President Bush and other Republicans say Democrats in charge will be bad for the economy and the war on terrorism. "The Democrats want to raise your taxes," Bush said Monday in Georgia. "However they put it, the Democrat approach in Iraq comes down to this: The terrorists win and America loses."

Bush stressed that "this election is far from over." Polls give Democrats their best chance in 12 years of gaining control of the House. They need to pick up 15 seats. Democrats need six seats for a Senate takeover. Though less likely, it's not out of the question.

Except for 20 months during his first two years in office, when Democrats held a one-vote Senate majority, Bush has worked with a GOP-led Congress. Even with a Democratic one, the president will still be able to block bills he doesn't like with a veto.

Changing priorities

Even so, a Democratic House would radically alter the balance of power in Washington. That's because House rules — unlike those in the Senate — give the majority sweeping authority to set the legislative agenda.

Some possible changes:

•New power brokers. The most dramatic difference would come at the top. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi is poised to become the first woman to serve as speaker of the House. Under the Constitution, the San Franciscan would be behind Vice President Cheney to succeed Bush.

Pelosi already has signaled that she will name committee chairpersons based on seniority. Republican Speakers Newt Gingrich and Dennis Hastert sometimes did not do so. The gavel would go to at least four African-Americans, including John Conyers of Michigan at the Judiciary Committee helm and three women, including California's Juanita Millender-McDonald and New York's Nydia Velázquez, who would be the only Hispanic committee leader. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, who is openly gay, would lead a committee.

Currently, all of the House GOP committee chairmen are white and male.

It would also increase the age of House chairpersons. In January 2005, 11 Republican committee leaders were younger than 60. Seven prospective Democratic chairpersons will be over 70 when the 110th Congress convenes in January. "Just because they are old doesn't mean they aren't good," says Matt Angle, a former congressional aide and Democratic political consultant.

Republicans see it differently. "The House will have chairmen who come from the old order," says House Republicans' former No. 2 leader Tom DeLay, suggesting they will be heavy-handed and unyielding to anything but Democratic Party orthodoxy.

One committee chairmanship appears uncertain. Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., is at the end of her term on the Intelligence Committee. Pelosi has not said she would renew Harman's term.

•New issues. Pelosi wants to raise the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour. She wants to halve the interest rate on student loans and enact the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission to fight terrorism.

On health care, Democrats want to give the federal government the authority to negotiate lower prescription-drug prices for seniors and expand research using embryonic stem cells.

And Pelosi wants to do all of that in her first 100 hours as speaker.

Pelosi also has promised a bill that would ban lobbyists from underwriting lawmakers' trips and prohibit corporations from providing discount travel on private jets. That goes beyond legislation that is currently stalled.

On Iraq, Democrats are likely to press for withdrawal of U.S. troops, but Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., a leading critic of the Iraq war, says any policy changes must be made "in conjunction with the White House."

Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., says the House Energy and Commerce Committee under his leadership would explore universal health care and debate ways to diversify the nation's energy supplies.

Prospects for a sweeping immigration overhaul could improve if Democrats controlled the House. A bipartisan bill that passed the Senate and won Bush's support has been blocked by Hastert and other GOP leaders who oppose provisions that would offer a chance at citizenship to estimated 12 million people now living in the USA illegally.

Taxes and compromise

Rep. Charles Rangel of New York, who would head the Ways and Means Committee, wants tax cuts for child care and tuition assistance, but has called for rolling back those he says benefit wealthier Americans such as estate tax.

DeLay predicts that Americans who don't consider themselves wealthy will find their tax bills going up: "They think if you make $100,000, you're rich."

•A new atmosphere? Murtha, a Pelosi confidant, says Democrats won't try to impeach, even though that's the hope of some people he calls "rabid" Democrats. Pelosi says she wants probes of Bush's first-term energy task force and the intelligence leading to the Iraq war.

Even so, Murtha says, Democrats will try to reduce partisan tensions. One plan: extending the amount of time House members spend in Washington, which shrunk to three days or less per week under the GOP. "You spend time together, you get to know each other," Murtha says.

Some of the Democratic candidates now running, such as North Carolina's Heath Shuler, are centrists from swing districts who will want to reach out to Republicans, says Tim Roemer, a former Indiana congressman. "They want to be re-elected," Roemer says.

They could find a willing partner in Bush, says Martin Frost, a former Democratic congressman from Texas. When Bush was governor there, he was known for his ability to get along with the Democrats who led the state House. "It made him seek middle ground," Frost says.

Others predict there won't be much appetite for compromise after a bitter campaign that's likely to thin the GOP of its moderates. "The president's veto record will go sky-high," says DeLay.

Some bills, such as one to expand federal funding of embryonic stem cell research that Bush vetoed, are likely to be offered even if Bush or Republicans don't support them. Democrats "will want to lay down markers for the 2008 campaign," Frost says.

Dingell counsels his fellow Democrats to focus first on Election Day: "Before you sell the bear's hide, you first have to shoot the bear."

Contributing: David Jackson, USA TODAY

[mawilson 2,133]

I really hope that whoever replaces Bush in the White House (Rep or Dem) is going to

- repeal the Patriot Act

- zap the illegal wiretapping surveillance program

- rescind the directive authorising military tribunals

- generally stop messing with our civil liberties!

- leave our taxes alone (no "tax simplification laws" please, aka "stick it to the taxpayer")

- terrorism? secure the borders already!

- national health system? would be nice to have (and reduce healthcare costs for many businesses)

- Iraq? do what it takes to stabilise the place (stay, leave, whatever)

- Israel? fuhgetaboudit - don't get involved

- environment? *sigh* always left behind

[Ban Hammer 13,352]

If Dems take over the House ...

USA Today

WASHINGTON — A Democratic takeover of the U.S. House would put more women and minorities in positions of power, as well as more senior citizens. That much is certain.

um yeah, what was the name of the black secretary of state the democrats had?

what was the name of the hispanic attorney general the democrats had?

Democrats say it will mean longer workweeks in the House of Representatives to pass tax cuts for the middle class and to devise a strategy to get U.S. troops out of Iraq. They promise more time in the hot seat for members of the Bush administration. "We have a broad agenda," says Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., a co-chairman of his party's House campaign.

i won't hold my breath on the middle class tax cut

President Bush and other Republicans say Democrats in charge will be bad for the economy and the war on terrorism. "The Democrats want to raise your taxes," Bush said Monday in Georgia. "However they put it, the Democrat approach in Iraq comes down to this: The terrorists win and America loses."

Except for 20 months during his first two years in office, when Democrats held a one-vote Senate majority, Bush has worked with a GOP-led Congress. Even with a Democratic one, the president will still be able to block bills he doesn't like with a veto.

good

•The most dramatic difference would come at the top. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi is poised to become the first woman to serve as speaker of the House. Under the Constitution, the San Franciscan would be behind Vice President Cheney to succeed Bush.

just shoot me now

Pelosi already has signaled that she will name committee chairpersons based on seniority. Republican Speakers Newt Gingrich and Dennis Hastert sometimes did not do so. The gavel would go to at least four African-Americans, including John Conyers of Michigan at the Judiciary Committee helm and three women, including California's Juanita Millender-McDonald and New York's Nydia Velázquez, who would be the only Hispanic committee leader. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, who is openly gay, would lead a committee.

she's from san fran, she had to have one around to make her feel at home

•New issues. Pelosi wants to raise the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour. She wants to halve the interest rate on student loans and enact the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission to fight terrorism.

On health care, Democrats want to give the federal government the authority to negotiate lower prescription-drug prices for seniors and expand research using embryonic stem cells.

And Pelosi wants to do all of that in her first 100 hours as speaker.

small business collapse, rampant inflation and revolts in hours 101+

Prospects for a sweeping immigration overhaul could improve if Democrats controlled the House. A bipartisan bill that passed the Senate and won Bush's support has been blocked by Hastert and other GOP leaders who oppose provisions that would offer a chance at citizenship to estimated 12 million people now living in the USA illegally.

and right there, it looks like the dems want to give it all away.....

Taxes and compromise

Rep. Charles Rangel of New York, who would head the Ways and Means Committee, wants tax cuts for child care and tuition assistance, but has called for rolling back those he says benefit wealthier Americans such as estate tax.

DeLay predicts that Americans who don't consider themselves wealthy will find their tax bills going up: "They think if you make $100,000, you're rich."

bohica....here comes the democrat tax machine.........

•A new atmosphere? Murtha, a Pelosi confidant, says Democrats won't try to impeach, even though that's the hope of some people he calls "rabid" Democrats. Pelosi says she wants probes of Bush's first-term energy task force and the intelligence leading to the Iraq war.

instant investigations - just add democrats

just what we need, more hearings!

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

DeLay predicts that Americans who don't consider themselves wealthy will find their tax bills going up: "They think if you make $100,000, you're rich."

bohica....here comes the democrat tax machine.........

I've heard the number $200,000 bandied about recently. Considering the fact that a senior IT professional in the greater NYC area can easily bring in $100,000, this spells doom for professional married couples (and professional gay couples, there are more of those than people realize)... add together two professional salaries and factor in some interest and dividend income, and you'll easily have lots of people who fall into that "tax the rich bastards" hole.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

I really hope that whoever replaces Bush in the White House (Rep or Dem) is going to

...

- zap the illegal wiretapping surveillance program

On the latter, dems only scream bloody murder when a pub does the wiretapping!

...

- leave our taxes alone (no "tax simplification laws" please, aka "stick it to the taxpayer")

- national health system? would be nice to have (and reduce healthcare costs for many businesses)

Unfortunately, both are working TOWARD tax simplification, as in a two-step form

1. Calculate taxable income
   
2. enclose cheque
   

And neither has the smarts to actually deliver a WORKABLE national healthcare system (copying the one from the northern neighbour won't cut it--quite a few doctors have already migrated, as well as a lot of nurses)

[rebeccajo 14]

When are people going to get the fact that many of the powers of the Patriot Act are the exact reasons our founding fathers put the right to bear arms in the Constitution?

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

When are people going to get the fact that many of the powers of the Patriot Act are the exact reasons our founding fathers put the right to bear arms in the Constitution?

Maybe a group of patriots in Boston should dump some Saudi crude into Boston Harbor That'll show 'em.

[Ban Hammer 13,352]

When are people going to get the fact that many of the powers of the Patriot Act are the exact reasons our founding fathers put the right to bear arms in the Constitution?

Maybe a group of patriots in Boston should dump some Saudi crude into Boston Harbor That'll show 'em.

i think taking a dump in boston harbor would be more worthwhile.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

When are people going to get the fact that many of the powers of the Patriot Act are the exact reasons our founding fathers put the right to bear arms in the Constitution?

Maybe a group of patriots in Boston should dump some Saudi crude into Boston Harbor That'll show 'em.

i think taking a dump in boston harbor would be more worthwhile.

Admit it, you only hate Boston because they keep voting for Teddy Kennedy over and over again! B)

[Ban Hammer 13,352]

When are people going to get the fact that many of the powers of the Patriot Act are the exact reasons our founding fathers put the right to bear arms in the Constitution?

Maybe a group of patriots in Boston should dump some Saudi crude into Boston Harbor That'll show 'em.

i think taking a dump in boston harbor would be more worthwhile.

Admit it, you only hate Boston because they keep voting for Teddy Kennedy over and over again! B)

i'm so busted

[Saddle Bronc 124]

When are people going to get the fact that many of the powers of the Patriot Act are the exact reasons our founding fathers put the right to bear arms in the Constitution?

Maybe a group of patriots in Boston should dump some Saudi crude into Boston Harbor That'll show 'em.

i think taking a dump in boston harbor would be more worthwhile.

Better yet, JIDDAH harbour.

[Carol&Marc 0]

EVERYBODY HURRY QUIT your job, BENEFITS ON THE WAY!