• The 108th Congress became history at the end of last year and its pending legislation died on the vine. Legislators in the 109th Congress, which was due to convene after the January 20 presidential inauguration, may consider which of the dead bills merit reconsideration and reintroduction. Legislator benefit by way of pleasing constituents comes first, and doing what is best for the country has a somewhat lower priority. The leftover list is impressive and includes such major items as energy, welfare reform, incentives to charities and highway funding. Many of the bills were debated and even passed by both the House and the Senate, but lawmakers were apparently unable to resolve bill differences by way of conference reports and those bills stalled and crashed short of enactment.
• For the 109th Congress, President Bush has a number of domestic issues on his agenda, including Social Security reform, changes in the tax code, energy legislation (drilling for oil and gas in Alaska’s Arctic Wildlife refuge, for one), welfare reform, tort reform, medical malpractice, bankruptcy reform and so on. Some of these issues are on the administration’s leftover list. Although the President has called for bipartisanship and has the benefit of Republican majorities in both the Senate and the House, he may find the going rough. Democrats, apparently still smarting from the election outcome, have indicated publicly that Bush’s domestic agenda provides the opportunity to divide the Republicans and recapture voters lost last fall. Democrats who have been blocking Bush’s judicial nominations think that Bush’s renomination of those individuals is indicative of the President’s ideological agenda and plan to continue their opposition.
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