Democrats plan to take no prisoners in their first 100 hours, according to the Washington Post (not online yet):
Instead of allowing Republicans to fully participate in deliberations, as promised after the Nov. 7 Democratic victory, Democrats now say they will use House rules to prevent the opposition from offering alternative measures, assuring speedy passage of the bills and allowing the Democrats to trumpet early victories.
Nancy Pelosi, the Californian who will become House speaker, and Steny Hoyer, the Marylander who will become majority leader, finalized the strategy in a flurry of conference calls and meetings with other party leaders over the holiday recess. A few Democrats, worried that the party would be criticized for reneging on an important pledge, argued unsuccessfully that they should grant the Republicans greater latitude when the Congress convenes on Thursday.
It's time to play some offense.
Linkage: http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
This first 100 hours is going to be fun to watch.
More from WaPo:
The Democrats intend to introduce their first bills within hours of taking the oath of office on Thursday. The first legislation will focus on the behavior of lawmakers, banning travel on corporate jets and gifts from lobbyists, and requiring lawmakers to attach their names to special spending directives and to certify that such earmarks would not financially benefit the lawmaker or the lawmaker's spouse. That bill is aimed at bringing legislative transparency that Democrats said was lacking under Republican rule.
Not a bad start.
And why the let the Republicans get in the way.
That do-nothing Congress is GONE! Time to play ball.
Democratic leaders said they are not going to allow Republican input into the ethics package and other early legislation because several of the bills have already been debated and dissected, including the proposal to raise the minimum wage, which passed the House Appropriations Committee in the 109th Congress, said Brendan Daly, a spokesman for Pelosi.
House Republicans have begun to complain that Democrats are backing away from their promise to work cooperatively. They are working on their own strategy for the first 100 hours, and part of it is built on the idea that they might be able to break the Democrats' slender majority by wooing away some conservative Democrats.
Yeah, get the violin out.
As Pelosi's spokesman, Daly said:
"We've talked about these things for more than a year. The members and the public know what we're voting on. So in the first 100 hours, we're going to pass these bills.''