Congress has three weeks to buckle down before the holiday recess and pass bills on energy, warrantless wiretapping, and farm policy.
It also needs to provide some relief from the alternative minimum tax and pass several spending bills, including one to fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
It’s a tall order, and given the body’s recent track record, we won’t hold our breath.
When Congresswoman Diana DeGette visited with us last week, we talked about the do-nothing Congress. DeGette contends, and we would agree, that the hold-up is in the Senate. A few Republicans, knowing Democrats don’t have the 60 votes needed to stop a filibuster, have scuttled some important measures.
Before Democrats took over Congress, a group of moderate Democratic and Republican senators, including Colorado’s Ken Salazar, formed the “Gang of 14” to help push along important legislation. Some of those senators are no longer in office, but that type of leadership and bipartisanship is sorely needed in the Senate right now.
There’s a lot at stake for Colorado.
The energy and farm bills would both impact our state directly, so we hope to see some progress in those areas.
Iraq and wiretapping are Bush’s top priorities. Bush wants to exempt telecommunications companies from lawsuits for providing the government with surveillance data. Congress is divided on the matter. The president also wants to make permanent a temporary extension of the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act. Democrats want to restore judicial review and other key protections that we believe are needed.
The president wants an Iraq war funding bill with no timetables or restrictions on troops. Many Democrats want both. The president also wants spending bills totaling $11 billion less than what Democrats have proposed.
The energy bill seems to have the best chance of passing. House and Senate negotiators reached agreement last week on a proposal to raise fuel-economy standards by 40 percent for cars and light trucks by 2020. We also think the bill should include a national electricity goal of producing 15 percent renewable energy, such as wind and solar power, by 2020. It’s a smart move.
Congress needs to adjust the alternative minimum tax, which was supposed to apply only to the wealthiest Americans when created in 1969. It was not indexed for inflation and now affects an increasing number of families. If no adjustment is made, millions of middle-class Americans will be forced to begin paying it.
On farm policy, Congress needs to place strict limits on subsidies to millionaire agribusinesses and funnel the money to conservation and other vital farm programs.
The temptation will be to put off some of these contentious issues until next year. But Americans deserve more from their elected leaders.
