Transcript
TOM MANN: The focus of much of the press already is on the substantive items in the so-called 100-hour agenda of the Democratic Party. It's needless to say Harry Reid didn't say anything about a 100-hour agenda. You can barely warm up at 100 hours in the Senate. But Speaker Designate Pelosi has early on committed to rapid action on a series of substantive and procedural changes.
The first 100 hours seem to be a way of one upping the Republican 100-day Contract with America actions of early 1995. But now I wonder if they might have come to regret it, since the storyline moving into the new Congress is, "Are Democrats already going back on their promises to restore regular order, to foster bipartisanship?" Moving so rapidly requires setting aside the normal committee processes of hearings and markups, the opportunities they've called for, for amendment and debate on the floor. That isn't the storyline they wanted but it was certainly predictable because we told them so many, many weeks ago.
The substantive agenda was carefully crafted to reflect strongly-held democratic values and positions but also items that drew virtually consensual support within the Democratic Party that attracted significant Republican support and that were broadly popular in the country. So it's not surprising that we are going to be seeing actions to implement those items in the 911 commission that weren't acted upon, increasing the minimum wage, giving the government the power to negotiate with the pharmaceutical companies, prices for drugs under Medicare Part D, student loan interest rates, stem-cell research, energy subsidies and the like. These are, as I say, broadly popular in the country and consensual within the democratic caucus.
On the other hand, the devil is often times in the details. And in each case, there are particular problems associated with it.
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