Congressional Democrats caving?
Posted: Thursday, December 13, 2007 4:19 PM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under:
Congress, Democrats
From NBC’s Mike Viqueira
Lots of folks are saying that congressional Democrats are caving, capitulating, or otherwise letting the president have his way on everything from the war to domestic spending to taxes. Not so, says Nancy Pelosi.
"This is what is possible. This isn't about caving," Pelosi said this morning. She portrays the stands that she had taken earlier as "a high water mark," essentially a bargaining position.
But oaths had been sworn, vows were taken and lines were drawn in the sand. Pelosi had promised that there would be no more war funding passed by the House beyond the $50 billion with strings attached that they sent over to the Senate pre-Thanksgiving. Now it appears that Democrats have agreed to send the president $70 billion of the $196 billion that he has asked for.
"The assumption that I made...that Republicans would see the light...was an inaccurate one," she allowed. Pelosi says that she will vote against it after allowing it on the floor.
Democrats had pledged that all new spending would be paid for with "offsets" elsewhere in the federal budget. But it appears that relief for middle-income taxpayers subject to the AMT this year will not be offset, $50 billion worth. The Democratic leader Steny Hoyer says that he will vote against this measure after he allows it on the floor.
Democrats had insisted that the level of discretionary spending be $22 billion higher than the $933 billion that the president had proposed. They are now agreeing to the president's number, but say that they are trying to allocate money within that cap in a way more suited to their priorities.
Pelosi appeared before reporters moments after the Senate had rejected a compromise energy bill, yet was upbeat on the prospects for final passage despite the fact that two of the major provisions that she had pushed through the House are clearly going to end up in the trash can. In the end, the mileage CAFE standards are going to stay in, and that is what she chose to emphasize. Today "is a great day for the House," she said.
Today, the Democratic response to negative reviews of their performance has been to essentially say, "Wait until next year." Specifically, wait until November and the next round of congressional elections when Republicans are sure to pay the political price for their support of the war, their opposition to the children's health insurance bill, and what Democrats see as their dilatory and obstructionist tactics.
Democrats hope that that assumption, unlike others made this year, will be accurate.
