The Final Days of the 111th Congress

                As the New Year approaches and the 112^th Congress is waiting to be sworn in, Democratic lawmakers are rushing to push legislation through Congress before the lame duck session expires. According to Politico.com it looks as though lawmakers on Capitol Hill will be forced to stay in session until Christmas Eve and there is even talk that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will call back the Senate for a post-Christmas session. This would be the first time a post-Christmas session took place since 1995. The Senate has yet to vote on various pieces of legislation such as the START treaty, the government funding bill, and a food safety measure bill. As the 111^th Congress draws to a close the schedule in the House looks a little less hectic but House members have yet to vote on a 9/11 first responders bill which was amended by the Senate last week. Since the Congress has yet to pass an appropriations bill all year there is the prospect that the government could shut down. Because of this Reid says that this bill is of top priority and that a vote is expected to take place Tuesday evening. The senate would also like to vote on a lands bill and a defense policy bill but it looks as though there will not be enough time for a vote to take place. As the year draws to a close, Capitol Hill has been a very chaotic place especially because the incoming congress who are moving into their new office spaces. Many defeated lawmakers are being forced to work out of small cubicles in the basement.

Source: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1210/46634.html

A Pledge to America

            Although the new Republican proposal “A Pledge to America” is built around the same idea as the 1994 outline “A Contract with America” it is also very different. The 2010 model is different from the 1994 model because it focuses more on economic issues than value-based issues. The first few pages of “A Pledge to America” discuss the Declaration of Independence in modern terms and also warn about the power of an unchecked executive branch. The document than lists four specific goals that they plan to achieve. The first goal is to extend the Bush tax cuts to both the middle class and the upper class. After that, they plan to lower spending to pre-stimulus levels. Thirdly, they plan to repeal the recent healthcare reform and replace it with common sense solutions. Some examples of a common sense solution are outlined as keeping the ban on pre-existing condition exclusions and also getting rid of the individual mandate. Lastly, they plan to reform Congress and restore trust by citing the constitutional authority of any proposed bill and by also reading aloud any proposed bill and to allow at least three days to pass before the bill can be voted on. Whether or not the Republicans will accomplish these goals is a big question and in my opinion they will not accomplish all of them. However, the Republicans and Democrats have compromised and plan to extend both Bush tax cuts and a vote on the extension is scheduled to take place in congress sometime next week, so it appears that the GOP will be able to cross that goal off their checklist. In regards to the lowering of spending levels, I don’t think that the Republicans will be able to accomplish this, because they do not outline any major cuts anywhere in the document. They only list small cuts that will have very little effect on the budget. Also, I believe that the Republicans will not be able to kill the healthcare bill because they do not have a majority in both houses. Lastly, in regards to reforming and restoring congress I think that this is just something the Republicans put in the pledge to make look good and is something they won’t actually do.