Monday, November 03, 2008
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The Democratic Agenda
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Posted by:
Amanda Carpenter at
10:13 AM
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If Obama does win tomorrow, the Democrats will be pushing through an unbridled liberal agenda in the next Congress.
Democrats are giddy with excitement, but there's an internal debate within the Democratic Party about how far to push an Obama Administration. Obama has not laid out any official 100-day plan, but has campaigned on ending the war on Iraq, increasing taxes to give the middle class a tax cut and investing millions into alternative energy and infrastructure. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid will naturally have plans of their own. At this point Democratic leadership is unsure if they should use their political capital early to pass something big like universal health care or to focus on smaller measures to avoid any immediate backlash. Obama would certainly be able to negotiate with them, but Pelosi and Reid are the ones who schedule votes.
Here is what's tentatively on deck, most of which are items the Democrats have unsuccessfully pushed for since they were ushered into power in 2006.
-End the war in Iraq, by cutting funding and/or mandating a date certain for withdrawal.
-Universal health care. A less ambitious alternative could be an expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program
-Another stimulus package
-Legislation ironically titled The Freedom of Choice Act, to eliminate the secret ballot process required to unionize, therefore making it easier for unions to organize. This is informally "card check."
-Legislation to increase subsidies for alternative energy and decrease energy consumption
-Increase taxation on the rich and capital gains to reduce taxes on the "middle class"
-Increase funding for stem cell research
-Increase funding for higher education
Update: One of our commenters points out that I missed amnesty and cap and trade. Duly noted. If John McCain wins, the Dems will probably tee up those two items first since he supports them, too.
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