WASHINGTON — The first Democratic-led Congress in a dozen years limped out of Washington on Wednesday night with a lengthy list of accomplishments, from the first increase in fuel-efficiency standards in a generation to the first minimum-wage hike in a decade.
But Democrats’ failure to address the central issues that swept them to power left even the most partisan of them dissatisfied and Congress mired at a historic low in public esteem.
Handed control of Congress last year after making promises to end the war in Iraq, restore fiscal discipline in Washington and check President Bush’s powers, Democrats instead closed the first session of the 110th Congress on Wednesday with House votes that sent Bush $70 billion in war funding, with no strings attached, and a $50 billion alternative-minimum-tax measure that shattered their pledge not to add to the federal budget deficit.
“I’m not going to let a lot of hard work go unnoticed, but I’m not going to hand out party hats either,” said House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel of Illinois.
On Iraq, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Wednesday: “Nobody is more disappointed with the fact that we couldn’t change that than I am.”
But Pelosi was not about to accept Republican assertions that her first year as speaker has been unsuccessful, saying: “Almost everything we’ve done has been historic.”
Unable to garner enough votes from their own party, House Democratic leaders had to turn to Republicans to win passage of a $555 billion domestic spending bill after the Senate appended $70 billion to it for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The war funding passed 272-142, with Democrats voting 141-78 against it.
The Democratic leaders again had to appeal to Republicans to win passage of a measure to stave off the growth of the alternative minimum tax, because fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats were in open revolt and refused to go along.
The year’s finale angered the entire sweep of the Democratic coalition, from the anti-war left to new Southern conservatives who helped bring Democrats to power last year.
“This is a blank check,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass. “The new money in this bill represents one cave-in too many. It is an endorsement of George Bush’s policy of endless war.”
Ironically, the Democrats accomplished much of what they had promised last year. Of the six issues on the Democrats “Six for ’06” agenda, congressional Democrats sent five to the president, and won his signature on four: a minimum- wage increase, implementation of the homeland security recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission, college cost reduction and an energy law that mandates conservation and the use of more renewable energy. Federal funding for stem-cell research was vetoed.
Congress also boosted spending on veterans’ needs and overhauled ethics and lobbying rules.
And it passed a slew of legislation that has gotten little notice, such as more money for math and science teachers who attain more credentials in their field, tax relief for homeowners in foreclosure, a doubling of basic research funding and reclamation projects for the Gulf Coast.
