Articles
Associated Press: Democrats' Agenda: Homes, Oil, Populism
02/29/2008
By CHARLES BABINGTON
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional Democrats are turning to
more populist, economic themes like mortgage foreclosures and big oil
companies' profits now that military progress in Iraq is generating mixed
political reviews.
Even when they talk about the war, Democrats often highlight
its drain on the economy. One top senator called the new emphasis "a turning
point in our argument against this war."
Polls find Americans increasingly worried about the economy
and their grip on middle-class privileges such as home ownership. Meanwhile,
the issue that galvanized the Democratic base in 2006 and much of 2007 — the
Iraq war — has grown so muddied that Republicans seem equally happy to discuss
it, a turnabout that caught Senate Democrats off guard this week.
Often using populist rhetoric, Democratic lawmakers are
focusing on voters' anxieties and resentments, such as drivers' anger over
paying high gasoline prices while oil companies make huge profits. The House
this week approved $18 billion in new taxes on the five biggest oil companies
despite protests from the Bush administration.
"We are at a time when Big Oil has record, historic
profits," Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters. "And yet
the administration opposes removing subsidies to Big Oil, subsidies that we
want to use to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, grow our economy and create
green paying jobs in our economy."
Senate Democrats, meanwhile, focused on Americans' fears of
declining real estate values and the possibility of losing their homes to
foreclosure. They ripped Republicans for blocking action Thursday on a package
that would provide $4 billion to help communities buy and rehabilitate
foreclosed homes. It also would let bankruptcy judges ease the obligations of
borrowers unable to pay their mortgages.
Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., citing GOP objections to the
housing package's cost, told reporters, "there is a direct
relationship" between the Iraq war's costs "and our inability to have
a focus on investing in middle class America here at home."
In political terms, the bills are meant to force Republican
lawmakers into a difficult choice. They can side with Bush in arguing for
fiscal responsibility and greater faith in free-market principles, or they can
back new government initiatives meant to help struggling families keep their
homes while shifting some of the costs to oil companies.
"The president is choosing bankers over middle-class
families," Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said Friday, in a typical
Democratic jab.
Republicans are pushing back, offering alternative plans on
housing and energy that they say are more responsible, affordable and
effective.
"As Republicans, we support helping families suffering
now," Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., said this week as he helped unveil a GOP
economic package. It called for $10 billion for state and local bonds to
refinance troubled subprime mortgages. It also would grant $15,000 in tax
credits over three years for those buying houses in foreclosure or nearing
foreclosure.
Republicans said the Democrats' plan would encourage
bankruptcies and drive interest rates higher because lenders would need to
recoup losses from contracts that were rewritten. But the GOP plan also
proposes long-standing goals that Democrats say are unacceptable. They include
cutting an array of taxes without compensating spending cuts, and protecting
businesses from lawsuits.
The disagreements led to a Senate standoff this week. With
leaders of both parties feeling pressure to respond to the mortgage crisis,
some lawmakers predict an eventual compromise, which might involve Democrats'
dropping their bid to expand bankruptcy protections for borrowers in default.
Democrats appear determined to keep hammering on the energy
and Iraq fronts, meanwhile, even though Bush's veto powers give them little chance
of enacting their main policies.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., chairman of the Joint Economic
Committee, held a hearing this week in which he touted a book, "The Three
Trillion Dollar War." After saluting the troops killed and wounded in
Iraq, he said, "by continuing to spend huge amounts in Iraq we are
prevented from spending on important goals and vital needs here at home."
Schumer, who also chairs the Democrats' Senate campaign
committee, called the fiscal analysis "a turning point in our argument against
this war."
Rep. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., focused on energy in the
Democrats' weekly radio address, to be aired Saturday.
"Like many Americans across the nation, the people of
northern Indiana have felt the negative effects of an energy policy that favored
Big Oil companies at the expense of working families and businesses," he
said in prepared remarks. The Democratic bill passed by the House this week, he
said, would "help ensure that our tax code is equitable."
Republicans refuse to be painted as friends only of the
rich.
"Middle-class families and small businesses are feeling the squeeze from rising costs for gasoline, food, and other costs of living," House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said this week. "Unfortunately, the Democrats' 'no energy' bill will only make matters worse by raising taxes and setting the table for even higher prices at the pump."