Democrats Prep Swift First Week of Legislation

Jan. 4, 2007 — -- As Democrats are set to take control of the House and Senate for the first time in more than a decade today, gone is President Bush's tough campaign rhetoric.

It's been replaced with talk of bipartisan cooperation.

"I'm hopeful that Republicans and Democrats can find common ground to serve our folks, to do our jobs, to be constructive for our country," Bush said this morning after his first Cabinet meeting of 2007.

But behind the talk by both Republicans and Democrats about working together lie competing agendas and principles that may be at fundamental odds.

As Bush held out his olive branch, such as it was, incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., kicked off the first events of her three-day celebration of her speakership. And Democrats sketched out their plan for their first 100 legislative hours in session, many of which the president has stated he opposes to and one of which he already vetoed.

Perhaps hoping to regain some of the legislative momentum, the president fleshed out his own agenda for the 110th Congress with an editorial in this morning's Wall Street Journal where he outlined his goals.

He said he wants to make his tax cuts permanent, balance the federal budget within five years, eliminate secret budget items members of Congress often tuck into spending bills called earmarks and give the president line-item veto power to help eliminate spending he finds wasteful.

"We can show the American people that Republicans and Democrats can come together to find ways to help make America a more secure, prosperous and hopeful society," he wrote, saying he hoped to find "common ground."

The question is whether any of the Democrats now running Capitol Hill will buy Bush's bipartisan rhetoric amidst his laundry list of conservative agenda items.

"This is the first time the president has dealt with the Democratic majority, so this is a very different environment in which he has to work," said Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report.

And, the Democrats, led by incoming Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi of California, are still celebrating their victories in the midterm elections.

Minimum Wage, Stem Cells on Agenda

Bush's goals are being met with a separate agenda from the Democrats.

In the House they hope to pass much of it in the first 100 hours beginning on Jan. 9, when they expect to implement the outstanding 9/11 Commission recommendations including better training and equipment for first responders.

Next week they also plan to increase the minimum wage to $7.25 and approve federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.

That agenda leaves Republicans skeptical about bipartisanship.

"They're not changing the process, there's not a new day and that's the missed opportunity," said Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Fla. "That's the frustrating thing."

But all issues aside, Democrats were reminded today Iraq still overrides all other subjects, as an anti-war protest interrupted one of their press conferences.

Shouts requesting politicians move to "bring the trrops home" were a signal that with their new power, Democrats will be held more accountable.