For comparison, the Republican original is
here.
Ours could be something like this:
- Uncontroversial reforms to Congress, passed the first day of the 109th;
Then pass these measures over a 2-year term:
- Fiscal Responsibility Act.
- Government for the People Act.
- Market-Based Pollution Control Act.
- Working Americans Act.
- Corporate Welfare Act.
- Tax Fairness Act.
- Health Care for All Act.
- Safe World for America Act.
- Middle East Freedom Act.
- Protect America Act.
- Fair Trade Act.
- Voting Rights Act.
- Abortion Reduction Act.
- Lifelong Learning Act.
- Voters Control Congress.
Details below.
On the first day of the 109th Congress, Democrats should:
- Have committee chairs selected by members, not the speaker;
- Ban congressmen from contributing to another's campaign
- Two-year budget cycle;
- Tighten the ethics rules. House officials under indictment should resign immediately;
The idea of these is to reduce the power of the House leadership, and the scope for petty partisanship. Congressmen should answer to their constituents, not the national party leadership.
- Fiscal Responsibility Act. The name alone teases the GOP, since that was item 1 in their list too. We'll even throw in the line-item veto, which they supported in 1994. But the main thing is to restore the spending caps of the 1990s. Budgets must be balanced over the business cycle.
- Government for the People Act. Ban lobbyist donations to parties or PACs. Ban all corporate and union donations. Ban all out-of-district donations for House races, out-of-state donations for Senate races. All congressmen must file regular reports of every meeting with a lobbyist.
- Market-Based Pollution Control Act. Set pollution caps and issue tradable permits. This was a Clinton proposal included in the Kyoto treaty. This way, pollution is reduced at the lowest possible cost.
- Working Americans Act. Raise minimum wage to $7.50 an hour by 2010. Introduce tax credits for companies with higher wages for the lowest-paid worker. Tax-penalize companies with high executive pay.
- Corporate Welfare Act. Abolish all corporate subsidies, tax loopholes. Realistically, this would never pass even a Democratic Congress, but it needs to be there, and the leadership must fight for it.
- Tax Fairness Act. No American with income under $50K should be paying net income tax. Raise taxes on the upper brackets to finance this (back to 1993 levels). This won't cost as much as it sounds; few people at that level pay tax now. We need this to avoid charges of raising taxes.
- Health Care for All Act. Block grants to states to offer health insurance to every American. Pool Medicare, Medicaid, and state health purchases to reduce costs via monopsony. Allow states to import cheaper foreign drugs. Shorten patent protections for drugs. Sensible tort reform (the last won't cut costs much, but is needed for political cover). Paid for by the reduced costs (monopsony), and the above measures cutting corporate welfare, spending caps, and tax hikes for rich.
- Safe World for America Act. Use a carrot/stick approach for nuclear/chemical/biological weapons proliferation; reward cooperating countries with trade or aid; punish noncooperators with isolation and sanctions. Goal: NO unaccounted-for WMD stockpiles, anywhere in the world, by 2010.
- Middle East Freedom Act. Marshall Plan for Arab countries, but conditional: if they stop funding terrorists, introduce democratic reforms and press freedoms, cut anti-Semitism from state-controlled media, allow greater women's rights, they get rewarded with trade and aid. Noncooperators get punished with aid cuts, oil boycotts, etc.
- Protect America Act. All those homeland security reforms the Bushies haven't done (coast inspections, border controls, etc.)
- Fair Trade Act. Grant president permanent fast-track authority but all trade agreements must have labor/environmental provisions. All countries signing bilateral/regional agreements must have an enforced locally-set minimum wage, ban beating and harassment of workers, and forbid dumping of toxic wastes etc. Create bureaus in Labor Dept/EPA to monitor foreign compliance. All trade agreements subject to periodic reviews. By giving the free traders something for something (permanent fast-track) we deflect charges of protectionism.
- Voting Rights Act. No voting machine may be used in the US without a Justice Dept audit certifying a verifiable paper trail. Extend the 1965 VRA with new provisions regarding access to polling places by population etc. Create new Election Fairness Bureau within Justice Dept.
- Abortion Reduction Act. Make abortions safe, legal, and rare via same techniques as worked under Clinton. Goal: 50 percent reduction in abortions nationwide by 2016.
- Lifelong Learning Act. New income-contingent student loan program. Also expand all Federal student aid to include adult education. Tax-credit companies that offer training to workers.
- Voters Control Congress Abolish gerrymandering. Voters should choose their congressmen; congressmen should not choose their voters. Technically, this is under state jurisdiction, but Congress can have a powerful symbolic effect through resolutions etc.