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‘First 100 Hours’ Starts Today |
Today kicks off the opening session of the 110th Congress—and marks the start of the first big push for passage of working family priorities such as lower interest rates for student loans, affordable prescription drugs through Medicare, a higher minimum wage and more.
If the “First 100 Hours” script new House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other House Democratic leaders developed is an indication, we’re in for some big changes, as Congress promises to hold accountable corporations, Big Business and the ethically challenged.
Senate leaders also plan action on most of the same issues but have yet to finalize an early schedule of votes.
Today’s House action begins with swearing-in ceremonies as Pelosi officially takes the speaker’s reins and becomes the first woman to hold the office. Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) is taking on the role of majority leader.
After new leaders and members are sworn in, the House gets down to business with a package of new ethics standards that generally tighten restrictions on lobbyists’ influence and gifts.
Tomorrow, a bundle of new House procedures hits the floor, including some that will put an end to Republican-instituted House rules that left floor votes open long past scheduled time limits to allow leaders to arm twist and bully members for more votes in close contests. The failed Medicare prescription drug bill in 2003 and Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) in 2005 are among bills that passed only when voting was unfairly extended.
Next week, the two big items for working families include a vote (set for Jan. 10) on raising the minimum wage (H.R. 2) from $5.15 an hour to $7.25—no strings or poison pills attached. On Jan. 12, the House will consider a bill (H.R. 4) to rein in Medicare prescription drug costs by requiring Medicare to negotiate with drug companies for lower prices. Even though other federal agencies, including Veterans Affairs, routinely use negotiating authority to keep drug costs down, the Bush administration opposes negotiating lower drug prices through Medicare.
Other items next week include votes on security and anti-terrorist recommendations from the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9-11 Commission, (H.R. 1) and a bill (H.R. 3) allowing scientific stem cell research.
After a short break for Martin Luther King Jr. Day observances, the House returns to action the following week and will seek to cut interest rates in half on student loans for middle- and lower-income families (H.R. 5). Last year, the Bush administration and the Republican-controlled Congress allowed the rates to jump.
Also that week, it’s likely the nation’s petro-giants, such as Exxon, that saw their profits hit record heights as gas prices soared past $3 a gallon, will fight House legislation to roll back tax cuts from last year’s energy bill and put that money into a renewable energy fund.
After that ambitious “First 100 Hours” in session, House and Senate leaders will turn to other key working family issues, including the Employee Free Choice Act, retirement security and pension legislation, workplace and coal mine safety laws, education and health care bills.
That’s quite a change of pace and attitude from the past decade-plus of Republican rule.
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