Madam Speaker
6 October 2006Up to this point I have been relatively optimistic that Republicans could hold on to Congress, albeit with the thinest of margins. I no longer hold on to that optimism. The events of the last week, on top of all that has gone before, have pretty well dashed all hope of Republican control of the House and it appears that the Senate may go as well. So the focus of this post will be to look at what we can expect for the next two years with Nancy Pelosi as the first Madam Speaker.
Yesterday House Minority Leader Pelosi spoke as if she had already ascended to the leadership position. Using her typical San Francisco liberal rhetoric, Pelosi yesterday laid out her plan for the first 100 hours of Democrat control of Congress. According to the Washington Post Pelosi’s plan is as follows.
Day One: Put new rules in place to “break the link between lobbyists and legislation.”
Day Two: Enact all the recommendations made by the commission that investigated the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Time remaining until 100 hours: Raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, maybe in one step. Cut the interest rate on student loans in half. Allow the government to negotiate directly with the pharmaceutical companies for lower drug prices for Medicare patients.
Broaden the types of stem cell research allowed with federal funds _ “I hope with a veto-proof majority,” she added in an Associated Press interview Thursday.
All the days after that: “Pay as you go,” meaning no increasing the deficit, whether the issue is middle class tax relief, health care or some other priority.
Some of that plan sounds good. Finding ways to limit the influence of lobbyists would certainly be a good thing. The problem is, there is absolutely no reason to think she is serious about it. Democrats have been just as cozy with lobbyists as Republicans have been.
Raising the minimum wage is more problematic, as I’ve written before. Hopefully Bush would veto such legislation but there is little reason to suspect he would considering his reluctance to wield the veto pen to date. So, millions of low income families would find themselves as no income families when companies find themselves unable to maintain the same level of employment. Sometimes you just have to see for yourself just how bad an idea really is. If she is successful in raising the minimum wage to $7.25 in one step, the results will be immediate and harsh.
Broadening stem cell research will certainly be doable and it will be equally ineffective. Billions of our tax dollars will go into the black hole that is fetal stem cell research. I’ve written before about the pipe dream this research is, as evidenced by the lack of private money flowing into it.
Pelosi’s “pay as you go” promise is the biggest pipe dream of all. Democrats have never followed such a philosophy and they aren’t likely to do so now, unless that is merely code for incessant tax increases to fund their never ending expansion of programs to redistribute wealth. The end result of that plan is recession and possible depression.
The unspoken promise Pelosi will not voice at this point is the promise to impeach President Bush. Make no mistake, a Democrat controlled House will result in impeachment. The Democrat base demands it and the Democrat leadership will be loath to go against them. If they don’t keep that base happy, their chances in ’08 will be considerably diminished. So impeachment will happen. And if the dems gain control the the Senate as well, a guilty verdict may result. The only thing standing in the way is Vice President Cheney, whom dems may be unwilling to elevate to President Cheney.
The next two year look pretty bleak. But being the eternal optimist that I am, I still hold out hope for the future. For one thing, I don’t believe the Democrats can wreck this country in two years, although they can certain do a lot of damage. I expect the best hope for a Republican President in ’08 is a Democrat Congress in ’06. Republicans have lost their way in the last few years. They become much of what they were elected to combat. A couple of years out of power may well do them good. And two years of liberal rule in Congress, with the accompanying economic downturn that will follow, will likely lead Republicans back to power in ’08, possibly retaking both houses of Congress and keeping the White House. Only time will tell but I am hopeful.
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