Congress: After a year, Democrats make limited strides

They probed contractors' role in Iraq and US attorney firings, but had setbacks on spending and changing the war's course.

from the December 21, 2007 edition

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Both decisions were made under the gun of deadlines that Democrats could not control. Without congressional action on emergency funding, the Pentagon said it would have had to begin sending out furlough notices to some 100,000 civilian employees this week.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had pledged to allow no more votes on war funding this year, after the White House rejected war funding with conditions. In the end, the Pentagon's pink slips would have been "too hard for some people to explain in certain parts of the country," she said in a briefing with reporters on the eve of the vote.

Reluctantly, House Democratic leaders allowed a floor vote on the measure, which the Senate had attached to the $555 billion domestic spending bill for fiscal year 2008. It passed Wednesday by a vote of 272 to 142, with more than half of House Democrats, including Speaker Pelosi, voting against it.

But Democrats note that the $70 billion measure is still far short of the nearly $200 billion that Bush requested last spring. "Even the Republicans in the Senate, who stick so closely with the president on the issue, have decided to put him on a short leash," Pelosi said. "People want to hold him more accountable."

Similarly, time constraints played a role in forcing Democrats to yield ground to the White House over the AMT fix. Bush said that he would veto any tax increases to pay for the AMT patch, and Republicans backed him. Without action on the AMT before Congress recessed for the holidays, some 22 million taxpayers would face an average of $2,000 in higher taxes – and at least 50 million taxpayers would face delays in processing 2007 tax returns, the Treasury Department says.

"It's a sad day," said Rep. Allen Boyd (D) of Florida, a co-chair of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition, commenting on the Senate's failure to pass offsets for the AMT, forcing the House to go along. "There are those of us who want to pay the bills and be fiscally responsible, but we can't get it by the Senate. We can't change course until we get a new president."

Senate Republicans mounted a record 61 filibusters this year that derailed many of the majority's priorities. But Democrats say these losses could help increase their majority in the 2008 elections – and ensure that a Democrat wins the White House.

"I want to assure you that what has happened this year has paved the way for much more dramatic change, because the Republican senators are filibustering themselves out of their seats," says Sen. Charles Schumer (D) of New York, who directs the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

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