Nancy Pelosi's New Direction - Veer Left!

Pelosi, Democrats release details of agenda
BY JILL ZUCKMAN

Chicago Tribune

WASHINGTON - Trying to promote Democrats as belonging to a party of ideas, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is pushing a laundry list of domestic proposals she says Congress will immediately pass if Democrats regain the majority next year.

The ideas range from lowering prescription drug prices to raising the minimum wage and eliminating billions of dollars in federal subsidies to the oil and gas companies, as well as allowing parents to deduct the cost of college tuition from their taxes.

Long caricatured as divided, adrift and in disarray, Democrats in the House and Senate put together their to-do list and were set to unveil it Wednesday until President Bush summoned congressional leaders to the White House to hear a report on his trip to Iraq.

Nevertheless, Pelosi and other lawmakers released details of the plan and promised to present them in a more public forum later.

"Democrats want to take America in a new direction for all Americans,'' Pelosi, of California, said in an interview Wednesday. "For the past five years, the Bush administration and the Republican Congress have taken us in the wrong direction.''

Pelosi described the ideas as "nothing magical" or surprising coming from Democrats who have long championed most of the proposals.

"It's something we can do in the first week of Congress,'' she said, though she rejected the inevitable comparison to Republicans' Contract with America, which was unveiled weeks before the GOP won control of the House in 1994.

Not surprisingly, Republicans scoffed at the Democratic manifesto, portraying their Democratic counterparts as a bunch of squabblers who wouldn't know a good idea if it hit them in the face.

"Their inability to craft a positive message isn't an accident, but is a direct result of misguided proposals that would send America in exactly the wrong direction,'' said House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio. "The American people do not want more tax hikes, more spending and retreat-and-defeat on national security and border security issues, but that's exactly the direction in which Nancy Pelosi and her Democrat friends want to take this country."

House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said the plan sounded like "more taxes, more spending and more government-funded programs."

But part of the Democrats' plan is a call to require fiscal responsibility, following pay-as-you-go rules that prevent deficit spending. And they note that it is under a Republican president and Congress that the federal deficit has soared to new levels.

"This is the path we were on when President Clinton was president, and we would have been debt free as a nation if we had stayed on that course of pay-as-you-go, no deficit spending, debt free as a nation in 2008,'' Pelosi said. "Instead, we have a debt ceiling of $9 trillion.''

The stakes for both parties this year are particularly high. Democrats need a 15-seat gain to take back control of the House. In the Senate, they need a six-seat net gain to win control.

One of the Democratic proposals, to raise the minimum wage for the first time since 1997, has already shown signs of support beyond the Democrats. On Tuesday, the House Appropriations Committee voted to raise the wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 hourly and attach it to the Labor, Health and Human Services spending bill. Seven Republicans joined committee Democrats in supporting the measure.

But Boehner has said he is opposed to the idea, which is expected to draw a floor fight next week.

Meanwhile, Pelosi has made clear that the minimum wage is a "premier issue" for the Democrats, and said Republicans will oppose it at their peril.

Rep. Charles Taylor, R-N.C., for example, voted against the minimum wage increase this week and he faces a difficult re-election battle against former NFL quarterback Health Shuler.

"Imagine," Pelosi said. "He's a multimillionaire and he voted for a cost of living increase for himself (as a member of Congress) and voted against an increase in the minimum wage for his constituents.''

Yeah blah blah blah Nancy. You vote and rant against anything the republicans do, supporting invented wrongdoings of a cleared Karl Rove and yet your party still demands an apology. How about an apology for William Jefferson, or Joe Wilson, Cynthia Mckinney, Pat Kennedy, TED KENNEDY or (heaven forbid) Bill Clinton's cigar!

Two Points: One, this has been a messed up two weeks for Democrats and the left, basically NOT getting anything they want. Apparently, as has been noted elsewhere, what's good for America is not good for Democrats and the Media. Second, there are lots of funny lines in this article especially the "Democrats are a bunch of squabblers who wouldn't know a good idea if it hit them in the face" one...

"The American people do not want more tax hikes, more spending and retreat-and-defeat on national security and border security issues, but that's exactly the direction in which Nancy Pelosi and her Democrat friends want to take this country."

Something to remember! Actions speak louder than words.

Social bookmark this