Jan 02 2007
100 hours
This is good. This is very, very good…
Democrats To Start Without GOP Input As they prepare to take control of Congress this week and face up to campaign pledges to restore bipartisanship and openness, Democrats are planning to largely sideline Republicans from the first burst of lawmaking.
House Democrats intend to pass a raft of popular measures as part of their well-publicized plan for the first 100 hours. They include tightening ethics rules for lawmakers, raising the minimum wage, allowing more research on stem cells and cutting interest rates on student loans.
But instead of allowing Republicans to fully participate in deliberations, as promised after the Democratic victory in the Nov. 7 midterm elections, Democrats now say they will use House rules to prevent the opposition from offering alternative measures, assuring speedy passage of the bills and allowing their party to trumpet early victories.
Given the manner in which the Republicans treated the Democrats, I don’t see that they really have much latitude to bitch about this. But, bitch they will. (If you follow that link, read the first sentence several times. I guarantee it will make you laugh out loud every time.)
In June of 2004 House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi suggested a “Minority Bill of Rights.” Speaker Dennis Hastert refused to even consider it. Now finding themselves in the minority, House Republicans are pushing for the same thing that Ms. Pelosi wanted back in 2004. TPMmuckraker has their letter.
