Work To Be Done

I want to turn back to the Democrats' agenda, because I'm not merely interested in obtaining and keeping power, but really getting something done. And the leaders in the House and Senate are articulating that they will work to enact some real change. Harry Reid gave his laundry list to match up with Nancy Pelosi's first 100 hours:

Ethics reform, a higher minimum wage and more money for stem cell research are the top items on the Senate agenda next year, incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday in an interview with The Associated Press [...]

Reid also said he's doing away with the "do-nothing Congress" that Democrats campaigned against this year as they ousted the Republican majority in both chambers of Congress. The Nevada Democrat, who is wrapping up his final days as Senate minority leader, will take control of the Senate agenda when the new Congress takes the oath of office in January.

"We're going to put in some hours here that haven't been put in in a long time," Reid said. That means "being here more days in the week and we start off this year with seven weeks without a break. That hasn't been done in many, many years here."

The fact that the Senate will meet for seven straight weeks, five days a week, is in many ways the most satisfying thing on that list. Draining the swamp of corruption is important (and David Sirota has a great article about how that means really getting to the core of the nexus between money and politics), stem cells and the minimum wage is a no-brainer, but a real working Congress is a radical departure from what in the 109th Congress has been something like a government in exile. The legislative branch needs to reassert itself in American politics, and that means making it seem like a full-time job. And with the mess that the previous Congress has made, they'll need all of that time:

Reid said he will tackle those priorities after cleaning up the "financial mess" that the outgoing Republican leadership has left. He was referring to nine long overdue appropriations bills covering 13 Cabinet departments for the budget year that began Oct. 1.

"They're just leaving town, it appears," Reid said from his office in the Capitol. "We hope that's not the case, but it appears that's what they are going to do. And so we're going to have to find a way to fund the government for the next year."

The must-pass legislation totals more than $460 billion and promises to divert time and energy from other items on the Democratic agenda.

It's good that Reid is getting out in front on this, making certain that everybody knows how the Do-Nothing Republicans literally abdicated their responsibilities in this lame-duck session, and that they did it entirely for political reasons. We need to back him up on that.

Senate Democrats have also decided to try and force themselves past the Baker-Hamilton commission waiting game (they'll release their report next week) and demand the way forward in Iraq:

Leading U.S. Senate Democrats called on President George W. Bush on Wednesday to urgently appoint a special envoy to Iraq, who would pressure the Iraqi government to take steps needed to curb violence there [...]

"Time is of the essence. The president has to move out decisively with Prime Minister Maliki," Sen. Jack Reed, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told a news conference.

"I don't think we can afford to wait for the Iraqi Study Group report, if it comes in in December or January," Reed said, speaking of a bipartisan panel charged with evaluating policy in Iraq. Not long after Reed spoke, a source close to the study group said it would present its report on Dec. 6.

More U.S. troops cannot end the violence in Iraq, the Democrats' letter said. The envoy should work full-time with the Iraqi government to stop bloodshed by disarming militias and developing a broad-based political settlement, it said.

That's good. This commission is a red herring. The President has already announced that he won't withdraw troops and that he doesn't want to negotiate with Iran until they stop enriching uranium. He doesn't want to change a damn thing, and his consigliare James Baker won't give him anything he can't handle. This New York Times report says that the ISG will call for a "pullback" or redeployment of troops "soon," but without any timeline. It gives Bush a chance to wriggle a way out of any real changes.

Democrats should not let James Baker frame the debate, they ought to do provide their own ideas that are in the interests of the troops and the public. I'm glad they're doing so. Only with a lot of pressure is that redeployment going to actually happen.

I have more here, but let's stop there for now.