The New Dem Agenda

What would happen if the Dems took control of the House? We've previously given you a listing of the new committee chairman, but what about their legislative priorities? Richard Cohen writes in National Journal and gives us a preview:

At the beginning of the year, Democratic lawmakers and their aides had few concrete ideas about their prospective agenda in the majority. But now they have far more specific plans for bills that they would like to enact and investigations that they hope to pursue.

The two party leaders, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., are promoting a six-prong "New Direction for America" agenda -- their so-called "Six for '06." Pelosi has also promised that within 100 hours after taking control of the House on January 3, Democrats will pass legislation to increase the minimum wage, mandate the negotiation of Medicare prescription drug prices, fully implement the recommendations of the 9/11 commission, and repeal tax benefits for big oil companies.

Of course, George Bush will still be in the White House, and there's a good chance that the GOP will still run the Senate, which means that most if not all of these proposals are dead on arrival.

And I find it wildly ironic that the Dems will demand full implementation of the 9/11 commisson recommendations (as though they were written on stone tablets), and yet is desperately opposing the ABC docudrama which is largely based on the 9/11 commimssion report. Go figure.
The remainder of the article is basically a litany of increased spending and investigations designed to tie the administration in knots. There's no indication that the Dems have any plans to actually DO anything. The whole article details the "get-evenism" that dominates the thinking of the Dem leadership, and promises nothing but strife for the next two years.

Thanks for pointing this out, Mr. Cohen. It's yet another good warning for America.