Between the Lines: One hundred hours and counting
Democrats’ agenda accomplishes goasl but falls short of long-term change
By Patrick Callahan, senior writer
Posted on January 22, 2007

The first Democratic Congress in 12 years achieved what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised “was only the beginning” by passing the sixth and final of its promised bills on the agenda for the first 100 hours. The Senate will have to debate the bills in the coming weeks and it must survive a possible veto by President Bush — but the issues the American public wanted addressed have passed the first step in the exhausting legislative process. Among those issues are: the adjustment of student loan rates to benefit students; the expansion of stem-cell research that is sponsored by government; a requirement for government to work with or through drug companies in order to help Medicare drug buyers; raising the minimum wage; ceasing tax breaks for big oil companies; and enforcing new ethics rules.

Ethics reform was the first issues addressed by the new Congress. The Senate passed a bill late last Thursday night instituting its version of “necessary” reforms, though they are less stringent than those passed by the House. According to The Washington Post, the Senate Finance Committee also approved about $8 billion in tax breaks for small businesses. If not for Speaker Pelosi’s determination to keep Republicans from proposing alternatives to the Democrats agenda — a move that has drawn much criticism but was necessary in order to bring results within the 100-hour window — a similar amendment would likely have been added to the House bill raising the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 per hour. 

Providing tax breaks to businesses that would be shouldering the burden of an expensive but necessary raise hike is just one of many political realities to be expected in the near future. The Democrats used the same fiscal responsibility when reducing federal student loan rates from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent. The rate change is to occur gradually over a five-year period but after that the bill simply disappears. This was necessary because by instituting a self-imposed “pay-as-you-go” strategy, Democrats hope to reduce the strain on a budget already overwhelmed by deficits. The money for this cut will come from cutting government subsidies to the banks and lenders involved in the student loan process. For there to be any longevity to the proposed plan, there must be new legislation before the bill reaches its “sunset” point in five years — but it’s a start in the right direction.      

Democrats are sure to draw misdirected fire in the coming year as they attempt to bring our federal budget back to reality. They will begin by peeling back many of the tax cuts of the past two Congresses. Republicans are sure to throw about accusations of creating “big government” and hindering the private sector from contributing to our economic well-being. But the cold hard truth remains — a properly functioning government requires sound fiscal responsibility just like any Fortune 500 company.

The American people want to see their investment handled properly just as any stockholder would. This means reigning in the benefits oil companies have been seeing for almost a decade. According to The Washington Post, Democrats voted to put a fee on oil and gas taken from the Gulf region while retracting almost $6 billion in tax breaks given to big oil under the Bush administration. Pelosi hopes to put these funds toward conservation efforts, particularly those involving global warming.

This and many other changes being proposed by the new Congress are not just “good ideas;” rather, they are absolutely necessities. But they will still fall short of their proposed goals without due diligence by lawmakers and continued pressure by the public. For instance, despite the almost historic ethics reforms passed last week, neither the House nor Senate seriously considered instituting the one ethics reform that is truly needed in order to bring about change in a Congress incapable of holding itself accountable — independent oversight by an outside, public entity. Similarly, the fees on energy companies will begin to build momentum toward a “greener” America, but for the foreseeable future it does nothing to reign in the oil giants. At the same time, the reduction in student loan rates does nothing to protect students from lending mammoths like Sallie Mae that are sure to raise rates for students in order to keep their floundering stocks afloat.     

In his State of the Union address tomorrow, President Bush will declare his goal of balancing the budget by 2012 — a huge flip flop for an administration whose vice president has been quoted as saying “deficits don’t matter.” It will do us all well to remember who put our country in its current financial situation as Democrats begin the unpopular process of practicing fiscal responsibility.

Patrick Callahan is a junior political science major.