1. The first and biggest Republican victory comes in the form of the omnibus spending bill, which funds nearly every government agency. Not only does the bill, which was handed down yesterday morning, match President Bush's funding levels, but it also contains none of the so-called "policy-riders" that Republicans had most feared..."It's probably better than anything we would have passed, if we were still the majority," one conservative Republican Senate staffer remarked sardonically on Monday. He was not the only Republican I could find to make this admission.
2. The omnibus itself represents a major Republican victory, but that's not all. The bill currently includes only funding for the Afghanistan war, but by the time it passes it will include full and unconditional Iraq supplemental funding, ending yet another legislative crisis in the Republicans' favor. The Iraq money will be added by amendment in the Senate. This portion of the amended bill will then pass the House largely on Republican votes.
In essence, Democrats are capitulating on the Iraq question for a second time this year, after being elected with a clear mandate to hasten the unpopular war's end — a bitter double-defeat that comes after dozens of symbolic votes on the war. And Democratic House members will be voting (probably today) to start a process that they know will continue the war funding — voting for it before voting against it.
3. On the Alternative Minimum Tax, Democrats have already lost this one through inaction. They are damned if they do and damned if they don't. Senate Democrats, who already agreed to fixing this broken portion of the tax code on Republicans' terms (without raising taxes to compensate), are watching impatiently as their House colleagues refuse to acknowledge that they lost this issue weeks ago. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) will adjourn the Senate, leaving Pelosi alone with the undesirable "take-it-or-leave-it" choice of fixing the AMT on Republicans' terms — with no tax hike — or else passing nothing and causing 25 million American households to overpay on their taxes next spring by an average $2,000.
4. The Energy bill currently before Congress represents an utterly valueless hodgepodge of regular corporate welfare (ethanol mandates) combined with "green" corporate welfare and penalties to consumers (increased fuel-economy standards). For that reason, it has broad bi-partisan support, each party having different priorities. Earlier this month, Pelosi broke a pre-existing deal with Senate Republicans and put a bill on the House floor that appeared to maximize her negotiating potential. To the consternation of several powerful House Democrats and Sen. Pete Domenici (R., N.M.), it included two environmentalist provisions — the Renewable Portfolio Standard, which forces utilities to generate or purchase a certain percentage of their electricity from "renewable" sources (not including hydroelectric or nuclear), and tax hikes on domestic oil production. The revenues were expected to pay for promotion of "green" power (more corporate welfare).
The thought was that the Senate might reject the RPS, but would keep the provisions closing "tax loopholes." Then last Thursday, the Senate unexpectedly rejected both provisions and passed an energy bill consisting mostly of "non-green" corporate welfare. The bill is expected to pass today containing neither provision. Pelosi played her best cards and lost again.
5. One of the Democrats most promising issues this year has been the State Childrens' Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP). They have sought to turn the Clinton-era program, a subsidy for poor children, into a free lunch for the middle class. Republicans, who hoped merely to extend the current program beyond the next election, were pummeled rhetorically for their resistance to the change. Yet after last night's negotiations, sources on the Hill say that they are about to get exactly what they wanted — another extension of the program, as it exists, through March 2009. The Democrats are getting certain minor provisions in return, but nothing that makes up for the loss of their moral trump card, and an election-year vote on children's insurance.
2. The omnibus itself represents a major Republican victory, but that's not all. The bill currently includes only funding for the Afghanistan war, but by the time it passes it will include full and unconditional Iraq supplemental funding, ending yet another legislative crisis in the Republicans' favor. The Iraq money will be added by amendment in the Senate. This portion of the amended bill will then pass the House largely on Republican votes.
In essence, Democrats are capitulating on the Iraq question for a second time this year, after being elected with a clear mandate to hasten the unpopular war's end — a bitter double-defeat that comes after dozens of symbolic votes on the war. And Democratic House members will be voting (probably today) to start a process that they know will continue the war funding — voting for it before voting against it.
3. On the Alternative Minimum Tax, Democrats have already lost this one through inaction. They are damned if they do and damned if they don't. Senate Democrats, who already agreed to fixing this broken portion of the tax code on Republicans' terms (without raising taxes to compensate), are watching impatiently as their House colleagues refuse to acknowledge that they lost this issue weeks ago. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) will adjourn the Senate, leaving Pelosi alone with the undesirable "take-it-or-leave-it" choice of fixing the AMT on Republicans' terms — with no tax hike — or else passing nothing and causing 25 million American households to overpay on their taxes next spring by an average $2,000.
4. The Energy bill currently before Congress represents an utterly valueless hodgepodge of regular corporate welfare (ethanol mandates) combined with "green" corporate welfare and penalties to consumers (increased fuel-economy standards). For that reason, it has broad bi-partisan support, each party having different priorities. Earlier this month, Pelosi broke a pre-existing deal with Senate Republicans and put a bill on the House floor that appeared to maximize her negotiating potential. To the consternation of several powerful House Democrats and Sen. Pete Domenici (R., N.M.), it included two environmentalist provisions — the Renewable Portfolio Standard, which forces utilities to generate or purchase a certain percentage of their electricity from "renewable" sources (not including hydroelectric or nuclear), and tax hikes on domestic oil production. The revenues were expected to pay for promotion of "green" power (more corporate welfare).
The thought was that the Senate might reject the RPS, but would keep the provisions closing "tax loopholes." Then last Thursday, the Senate unexpectedly rejected both provisions and passed an energy bill consisting mostly of "non-green" corporate welfare. The bill is expected to pass today containing neither provision. Pelosi played her best cards and lost again.
5. One of the Democrats most promising issues this year has been the State Childrens' Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP). They have sought to turn the Clinton-era program, a subsidy for poor children, into a free lunch for the middle class. Republicans, who hoped merely to extend the current program beyond the next election, were pummeled rhetorically for their resistance to the change. Yet after last night's negotiations, sources on the Hill say that they are about to get exactly what they wanted — another extension of the program, as it exists, through March 2009. The Democrats are getting certain minor provisions in return, but nothing that makes up for the loss of their moral trump card, and an election-year vote on children's insurance.
His conclusion:
House Democrats' inflexibility and subordination of policy to politics led them to Waterloo this week. They are a majority that has used the tactics of a minority, and it hasn't worked very well. Meanwhile, the minority party — a party that is likely to stay in the minority through the next election — is routing Pelosi on five bills in a single week.
Yep, the worst Congress ever, led by the worst Congressional leaders ever: Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi.
There's my two cents.
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