Changing the Guard
It's a new day on Capitol Hill, and Democrats say they have a plan. Now they have to make it work
The most bruising fights in Congress will most likely come down to dollars and cents budget questions in the spring. Bush said last week he'd work with congressional Democrats, while throwing down the gauntlet on any attempt to raise taxes and saying his economic plan would balance the federal budget by 2012. Democrats so far vow to abide by rules that require any increase in new entitlement spending to be offset by tax revenue or cuts to other programs. The Democrats in charge of the House Budget and Appropriations committees have said Congress will "face a fiscal challenge of historic proportions" in 2007, given the costs of both the Bush tax cuts and the Iraq war (the president will ask Congress for roughly $100 billion in a supplemental bill in February). "I don't think you'll see a major liberal agenda pushed by the Democrats' caucus at the end of the day," says Jim Turner, a former Democratic representative from Texas. "Once the war is behind us and we have a chance to recover from the huge deficits that we're facing, then maybe."
Democrats and Republicans have pledged cooperation, with Senate leaders holding a bipartisan meeting last week to find common ground. But Republicans have a simple new fact to learn-life in the minority. "It's important to recognize," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said, standing beside Reid, "that over the past 25 years some of the most important achievements have been during a period of divided government." After their November losses, House Republicans said they'd strongly attack Democrats from the get-go, but they've now softened their approach-at least for the first month.
The bipartisanship may hold through January, giving Democrats something of a political honeymoon. How well they avoid the political traps in the months ahead and help shape Iraq policy will go much further in determining whether the 2006 election was merely a blip in the Republicans' control or a decisive realignment.
With Paul Bedard and Kevin Whitelaw
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