Naysayers to Pelosi's 100-Hour Agenda Are Out of Touch with Americans

I'm irritated over scattered press reports diminishing the importance of House Democrats' push to pass an ambitious slate of bills in their first 100 legislative hours in the 110th Congress.

For instance, the Los Angeles Times wrote on January 2:

"When Democrats take power on Capitol Hill this week, House leaders will kick off their legislative campaign with a lightning-fast 100-hour agenda. But there won't be a revolution...

In marked contrast to the Republicans who swept into the majority in 1994, incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her legislative allies are not planning to amend the Constitution or eradicate federal agencies.

Instead, their initial legislative foray will focus on modest, politically popular issues, including initiatives to expand stem cell research, lower prescription drug prices and tighten congressional ethics rules.

Pelosi's program is expected to receive a warm reception on Capitol Hill, even from some Republicans."

Reality Check for Naysayers
Such naysayers are woefully out-of-touch with the needs of everyday Americans... as Americans clearly told the country at the polls in November 2006.

The Republicans' catchy 1994 Contract with America was a campaign gimmick that failed miserably.

It failed largely because Republicans failed to live up to their own standards of ethical behavior, fiscal responsibility and personal conduct. The Contract with America has proven to be hot-air designed to attract votes, not to dictate actions.

The only changes to the U.S. Constitution, an apparent L.A. Times test of credibility, in the last 12 years were those made by the Bush Administration in undermining the constitutional rights of Americans in a myriad of appalling ways...

Reading our snail mail and email at will, entering our homes without notice, listening to our phone calls, arresting and detaining people for months or years at a time and more. The shocking list, all rubber-stamped by the Republican-led Congress, goes on and on and on, ad naseum.

And the L.A. Times sets eradication of federal agencies (which have bloated beyond imagination under President Bush) as the threshold for a big-ticket agenda?

Be patient, my doubting friends. Wait until the emboldened new House Committee Chairs undertake oversight of the mess left in D.C. by Republicans. My guess is that FEMA and dozens of other agencies will see massive changes.

Meeting the Needs of Americans
In contrast to the hollow promises of Newt Gingrich's Contract with America, Nancy Pelosi's 100-hour New Direction for America agenda is about TAKING action to better the lives of Americans... not merely boasting about pie-in-the-sky action.

Said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer:

"Democrats ran on this agenda and were elected on this agenda. We promised the American people swift passage of these bills and we fully intend to make good on that promise."

100-hour Democratic legislation goals include the following:

Federal funding of embryonic stem cell research - Despite being overwhelmingly supported by Americans, and passed on a bipartisan basis by both the House and Senate, President Bush vetoed federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.

The Republican-led House was unable to muster the 60% vote necessary to override the President's veto, so federal funding for embryonic stem cell died in the 109th Congress.

Implementation of 9/11 Commission Recommendations - Despite billing themselves as the party of strong national security, President Bush and Republican leadership blithely ignored most recommendations of the bipartisan 9/11 Commission.

A Republican cold shoulder was especially turned to training, equipping, funding of and federal info-sharing with first responders, who are the police, fire fighters and emergency workers who assist everyday Americans in their local neighborhoods.

The 100-hour legislative agenda also includes bills to raise the federal minimum wage, to reopen Medicare-Part D negotiation of lower drug prices, and to cut interest rates on college student loans, which were callously raised to exorbitant levels by Republican leadership.

For a full list of the 100-hour agenda, see House Begins First 100 Hours of New Congress by Robert Longley, About.com's Guide to US Gov't Info.

And at Office of the House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, you can see the 100-hour clock ticking away... as I write these words, House Democrats are 4 hours, 58 minutes into a spectacular beginning of the 110th Congress.

To House Democratic leadership, I say BRAVO!

You're acting on the 2006 campaign promises you made, and you're demonstrating that you care about the lives and needs to everyday Americans.... in contrast to Congressional Republicans of the last 12 years who amply showed their highest priorities to be lobbyists, major corporations, the oil & gas industry, and the very wealthiest Americans.

And to the Los Angeles Times and other naysayers who claim such changes "won't be a revolution," I say this: Higher minimum wages, lower prescription drug costs, better local protection in times of emergency, medical hope for the hopeless, and the ability to afford a college education will be a truly astonishing revolution in the lives of ten of millions of Americans.

You naysayers are simply out-of-touch with the great American public. And still missing the message of the 2006 elections.

Recommended Reading
The Democratic Agenda for the 110th Congress, 2007-08
The DLC's "American Dream Plan" for Middle-Class Americans
House Committee Chairs for 2007-08
New York Times, Jan 8, 2007: Bush Tax Cuts Offer Most for Very Rich, Study Says
Also visit DEBT HITS HARD by Campus Progress, hosted by Huffington Post