Major Accomplishments Of The 110th Congress
In 2006, the American people demanded a New Direction: to make America safer, to help restore the American dream, and to restore accountability and fiscal responsibility to the people's government. Six years of indifference and inaction had left the American people wondering who would take their side. The 110th Congress brought new faces, new energy and a steadfast commitment to a New Direction. The first woman Speaker of the House in American history gaveled open the Congress with a pledge to make its work about America’s children. Despite the obstacles thrown up by the President’s vetoes and his Republican allies who sustained them, Congress is focused on a New Direction that makes American families and children, and our future generations, our highest priority.
MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE 110TH CONGRESS
Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats have focused on the priorities of Americans on Main Street by passing over 230 key measures - more than 70% with significant bipartisan support
The House had a quick, successful start (Six for ‘06/100 Hours Agenda) and continued to build on that record of accomplishment throughout the Congress. Listed are selected highlights of the legislation signed into law:
- Comprehensive energy legislation, including raising vehicle fuel efficiency standards (35 mpg by the year 2020) for the first time in 32 years, and making an historic commitment to American homegrown biofuels
- Tax incentives for clean renewable energy that will create and save over 500,000 jobs
- Largest expansion of college aid in six decades, cutting loan rates in half and increasing Pell Grants
- New GI Bill to provide free college education to veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan
- COMPETES Act to promote high-tech jobs, expand math and science education, and boost research and innovation
- Reauthorization of Head Start – first reform and expansion in 10 years
- Protecting 25 million middle-class families from paying the Alternative Minimum Tax
- Minimum wage increase – first in 10 years, a $4,400 raise for 13 million Americans
- Economic Recovery and Stimulus package with Recovery Rebates for 130 million American families to jump start the economy – with unprecedented speed and bipartisan support
- Comprehensive housing foreclosure crisis reform to prevent families from losing their homes and stop the decline in home values at the root of the current financial crisis, and to impose tough independent regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
- Economic rescue legislation to protect Main Street from the crisis on Wall Street including limits on CEO and executive compensation, tough taxpayer protections (requiring a plan that to ensure that Wall Street repays the taxpayers in full protections for homeowners and small businesses, and increased accountability, transparency and oversight
- Preserving Medicare for 44 million seniors and people with disabilities, assuring access to doctors you know and trust
- Largest investment in Veterans’ health care in the 77-year history of the VA
- Mental Health Parity to end coverage discrimination against patients seeking treatment for mental illnesses
- Improvements in homeland security by enacting the independent 9/11 Commission recommendations
- Landmark Lobby and Ethics Reform, including creating of an outside, independent ethics panel
Learn more about the legislation the 110th Congress has passed>>
Explore an interactive timeline of key actions in the 110th Congress:
MANY MAJOR INITIATIVES PASSED BY THE HOUSE WERE BLOCKED BY PRESIDENT BUSH'S VETOES (11), VETO THREATS (64) OR AN HISTORIC LEVEL OF FILIBUSTERS BY SENATE REPUBLICANS
Among the bills passed by the House that were blocked by the President’s veto or obstruction by Republicans in the Senate were:
- Responsible redeployment of U.S. troops from Iraq
- Children’s health insurance for 10 million children - SCHIP
- Fall Economic Recovery and Stimulus Effort to create jobs, build essential infrastructure, help states meet soaring health care costs, expand emergency food programs, and extend
- Unemployment Insurance benefits
- Expansion of life-saving Stem Cell Research
- Giving Medicare the authority to negotiate with drug companies for lower prices, saving seniors hundreds of dollars a year
- Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to ensure women are paid equal pay for equal work
- Curbing excessive oil speculation– which is inflating gas prices
- Employee Free Choice Act to restore workers’ rights by removing obstacles that prevent workers from choosing whether or not they want to form or join a union