Sunday, January 07, 2007
Opinion: Which of the proposals for the Democrats first "100 Hours" will be the most important for the American people?
(Some proposals can be accomplished by just being enacted by the majority in the House, but some need the full process of becoming a law. Consider whether or not some proposals will become law and whether or not any of the proposals will actually benefit the people.)
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My first opinions of the 100 hour plan include questions, such as when does the new madam speaker intend to start this 100 hours in which the plan will be implemented; and if the Democrats are so into calling for bipartisan cooperation on creating reforms for all of the nation, which does include the minority, why are there no opportunities for the Republicans to present another plan on the same subject to give the house this truly bipartisan cooperation that the new speaker has spoken so much about? To answer my own questions, I don’t know. I was under the impression that directly after the swearing in ceremonies that the 100 hours would begin, but that turned out to be wrong, I have now learned this will not start until Tuesday.
To get back to the task of answering the question, I don’t think any of the 100 hour proposals will be of great importance, and directly affect the average American people. I think the democratic plan is just a bunch of fluff. It is all for show, that they can tackle “major problems” and pass many legislative proposals within a little more than four days. Although the legislation may not really do any good, the Democrats will use the point that they are not continuing the past “tradition” of a “do nothing congress.” The proposals in the 100 hour plan have very little substance that may cause any debate at all in them. None of the important issues, which helped the Democrats get elected, national issues such as Iraq strategy, or ethics reform, are addressed in the plan. Does this mean Democrats are abandoning their constituency, and the values voters, who got them into office? I personally think they are just setting these issues to the side for the time to “show their power” in their first few days in office.
Many of the proposals would also have to pass the Senate, in which the filibuster is a very effective tool to block legislation. In the Senate the Democrats would fall short of the 60 votes needed for cloture, to pass anything of importance. As for the proposals that only need a simple majority in the house to pass, I don’t think that these proposals, even if they pass with huge majorities, will bolster much support for the Democrats. These proposal mainly focus on minimum wage and student loan cost, which effect young people most; the younger citizens have been shown in polls to be one of the groups least likely to get out to vote, thus their support is not a major priority most of the time. In conclusion, I think all of the proposals are fluff, and don’t think any will greatly affect average Americans.
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