Colorado Democrats nice, national Republicans jerks
Democratic House Speaker Andrew Romanoff in The Denver Post:
[Romanoff] laid out an agenda for his fellow Democrats that matches [Governor-elect Bill] Ritter's program. At the same time, he reminded his colleagues that working with Republicans will remain a key part of his approach. "The golden rule is not 'Do unto the Republicans as they had done to us,'" Romanoff said. "We will run it the way I wished it had been run when we were in the minority."
Ritter's goals for the next four years include improving Colorado's child immunizations, introducing a healthcare reform package, creating a more efficient budget process, revamping Colorado's transportation system, getting more children into early childhood education and establishing Colorado as a national renewable-energy leader. That audacious agenda requires bipartisan support. So kudos to Romanoff for asking the legislature to play nice.
But at the national level, things aren't so rosy. Pacified points out that the outgoing U.S. House Republican majority is purposely mucking things up for the incoming Democratic legislature and its agenda:
The bulging workload that a Republican-led Congress was supposed to complete this year but is instead punting to 2007 promises to consume time and energy that Democrats had hoped to devote to their own agenda upon taking control of Congress in January for the first time in a dozen years... Some Republicans also look forward to using unfinished budget work to gum up an early Democratic agenda that includes raising the minimum wage, negotiating lower drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries, cutting interest rates on college loans and repealing some tax breaks for oil companies.
I'm not sure whether to applaud my party for taking the high road or bash the opposition for being dirtbags. Let's just say that Democrats get results while Republicans would rather play petty partisan games. And we'll leave it at that.
[Romanoff] laid out an agenda for his fellow Democrats that matches [Governor-elect Bill] Ritter's program. At the same time, he reminded his colleagues that working with Republicans will remain a key part of his approach. "The golden rule is not 'Do unto the Republicans as they had done to us,'" Romanoff said. "We will run it the way I wished it had been run when we were in the minority."
Ritter's goals for the next four years include improving Colorado's child immunizations, introducing a healthcare reform package, creating a more efficient budget process, revamping Colorado's transportation system, getting more children into early childhood education and establishing Colorado as a national renewable-energy leader. That audacious agenda requires bipartisan support. So kudos to Romanoff for asking the legislature to play nice.
But at the national level, things aren't so rosy. Pacified points out that the outgoing U.S. House Republican majority is purposely mucking things up for the incoming Democratic legislature and its agenda:
The bulging workload that a Republican-led Congress was supposed to complete this year but is instead punting to 2007 promises to consume time and energy that Democrats had hoped to devote to their own agenda upon taking control of Congress in January for the first time in a dozen years... Some Republicans also look forward to using unfinished budget work to gum up an early Democratic agenda that includes raising the minimum wage, negotiating lower drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries, cutting interest rates on college loans and repealing some tax breaks for oil companies.
I'm not sure whether to applaud my party for taking the high road or bash the opposition for being dirtbags. Let's just say that Democrats get results while Republicans would rather play petty partisan games. And we'll leave it at that.
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