Senate Democrats lay out opposition agenda!

[ArchTeryx]

From the Left Coaster blog:

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid will do something this morning that an opposition party is supposed to do: Senate Democrats stopped playing defense and will begin playing offense by setting forward an ambitious agenda of their own. In a conference call earlier this morning, Reid’s staff announced their top ten priority bills for the 109th Congress, and they address many of the needs accumulated by this country but ignored by the White House the GOP Congress under Bill Frist and Denny Hastert.

Complete details on each of the pending bills are here.

A very quick summary:

Senate Bill 11 will address our troop strength problems brought about by George W. Bush’s foreign policy and backdoor draft.
Senate Bill 12 establishes four interlocking pillars necessary to wage an effective war on terrorism.
Senate Bill 13 addresses Bush’s abandonment of our veterans by ensuring all veterans get the health care they deserve by 2006; expand mental health services to all VA hospitals by 2006; make prescription drugs readily available to veterans; and enact a new GI Bill for the 21st century.
Senate Bill 14 lays out an ambitious list of measures to deal with economic opportunity...
Senate Bill 15 deals with education.
Senate Bill 16 deals with health care.
Senate Bill 17 deals with voting reform, through a broad range of measures.
Senate Bill 18 deals with Medicare by addressing the corporate welfare that Bush larded onto the HMOs and drug companies with the Medicare drug benefit...
Senate Bill 19 is the Fiscal Responsibility for a Sound Future Act, which would among other things restore the Senate pay-as-you-go rule to require that mandatory spending and tax legislation be fully paid for, or be subject to a 60-vote point of order...
Senate Bill 20 deals with reducing unintended pregnancies and reduces abortions through increasing access to family planning services. It will also provide relief to Medicaid by decreasing the financial burden of pregnancy-related and newborn care.

This is all being packaged as the Promise to America.

A big problem, as was pointed out in a comment and in many of the replies to the original blog entry, was the lack of environmental bills. This is a pretty huge hole, and I am not sure why it was left entirely out of the agenda. But nonetheless, I still like it as a starting point. It sure as hell is better then what they were offering before, which was nothing but prevent defense, duck, and cover.

-- ArchTeryx

[Liberty Belle]

1. There's a glaring hole here: The environment!

Bush's "Clear Skies" program increases polluters.

His refusal to acknowledge global warming has catastrophic potential consequences for our planet.

Today, news is out of factory farms (giant pig and cattle operations) being let off the hook for pollution.

Nationally prominent health experts I've interviewed recently say that mercury poisoning is approaching epidemic proportions in the US, primarily because of water pollution.

Republicans are planning to open up Arctic wilderness for oil drilling, disrupting the fragile environment and endangering wildlife.

Asthma rates are up over 70% nationally in recent years, largely because of increased air pollution.

Why on earth are our Democratic leaders ignoring these issues? Oh, of course. The damn DLC again--the corporate wing of our party.

Everyone, if you care about the health of your children or yourselves, call or fax your Senators and Senator Reid, please and urge them to add these environmental issues to their agenda!

If you agree, please kick this and nominate it for homepage.

[ArchTeryx]

2. That was pointed out

Yes, that is a big hole. There's also some complaint that there's three separate military bills in there.

Unfortunately, right now there doesn't seem to be a huge amount of momentum for the environment. :/ I see the agenda as laid out as being as much tactical as strategic. It takes a whole passel of Republican wedge issues and stuffs them right down their throats.

Though I think that Reid would do VERY well to add an environmental bill or two to the table, and maybe take the terrorist bill OUT. That just plays straight to the Republicans.

-- ArchTeryx

[Liberty Belle]

5. WE have to provide the momentum!

There is no issue on which Republicans are weaker than the environment. Why do Dems keep ignoring this?

The public would care about this a great deal if it were reframed to talk about how Republicans are giving corporate polluters free reign to dirty our air and water, causing our children to grow sick with serious illnesses.

C'mon, DUers. We need to send this message to our legislators.
I write about these issues for a living, but only for trade publications no seen by the general public. Health professionals and environmental experts know what's going on, but the rest of America is blind, deaf and dumb.

Please, help me wake them up--along with our corporate-minded legislators!

[Gloria]

3. I caught part of this on CSpan this evening...Debbie Stabenow,

Schumer, Dorgan, Reid and another Senator (M) I couldn't recognize were all speaking.

A reporter asked about unity and Reid said he had checked with all Senators and they ALL agreed on the agenda.

Does that mean solid bloc voting?? I would be amazed....

[ArchTeryx]

4. Yep!

According to what I read, yes. It means SOLID BLOC voting. And not just on the Promise for America. It means solid-bloc opposition to the Social Security Disemboweling and quite possibly for several other administration inititatives as well.

The House Democrats are not *yet* on board, but that's being worked on and Pelosi is certainly sympathetic.

-- ArchTeryx

[ixion]

6. I don't consider Bills 11 and 12 as opposition

rather, they legitimize the so-called 'War on Terror', which is illegitimate and should be treated as such.

By my thinking, TRUE, opposition would:

1) Deride the 'War on Terror' and call it what it is: a vehicle for PNAC's new imperial 'Murika.

2) REPEAL THE unPATRIOTic Act. The fact that this unconstitutional piece of trash is allowed to stand is an embarrassment to our country, and a threat to our civil liberties.

3)Address the hypocrisy of *'s 'Clear Skies' initiative, and the NCLB.

4) Address the fact that this administration is guilty of war crimes.


See, to me, that is true opposition.

[eg101]

7. The "promise to rich America" is more like it

"Senate Bill 13 addresses Bush’s abandonment of our veterans by ensuring all veterans get the health care they deserve by 2006"

"the health care they deserve", huh? What about a bill that gives free health care to all vets, unless they are millionaires?


"Senate Bill 14 lays out an ambitious list of measures to deal with economic opportunity..."

How about a bill outlawing H1B imported labor? No?


"Senate Bill 15 deals with education."

How about a bill to tax millionaires to pay for tuition free college, like they have in many European countries? No?

"Senate Bill 16 deals with health care."

Is it about how to fund universal healthcare? No.

THe Democrats' "Promise to America": we gonna fuck you over again!