Democratic-led Congress ends year with accomplishments, frustration

WASHINGTON — The first Democratic-led Congress in a dozen years limped out of Washington on Wednesday night with a long list of accomplishments.

But Democrats' failure to address central issues that swept them to power left even the most partisan of them dissatisfied and Congress stuck at a historic low in public esteem.

Handed control of Congress last year after making promises to end the Iraq war, restore fiscal discipline and check President Bush's powers, Democrats instead closed the first session of the 110th Congress on Wednesday with House votes that sent Bush $70 billion in war funding — no strings attached — and a $50 billion alternative-minimum-tax (AMT) bill that shattered their pledge not to add to the federal budget deficit.

"I'm not going to let a lot of hard work go unnoticed, but I'm not going to hand out party hats, either," said House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel of Illinois.

On Iraq, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said: "Nobody is more disappointed with the fact that we couldn't change that than I am." But Pelosi was not about to accept GOP assertions that her first year as speaker was unsuccessful. "Almost everything we've done has been historic," she said.

House Democratic leaders had to turn to Republicans to win passage of a $555 billion domestic-spending bill after the Senate appended $70 billion to it for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The war funding passed 272-142, with Democrats voting 141-78 against it.

Democratic leaders again had to appeal to Republicans to win passage of a measure to stave off the growth of the AMT, because fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats insisted that the Senate offset the bill's cost with tax increases on hedge-fund and private-equity managers.

Needing two-thirds of the House under fast-track rules, the bill passed 352-64, with all 64 nays coming from Democrats standing by their pledge not to pass any tax cut or mandatory spending increase that increased the national debt.

The results angered the entire Democratic coalition, from the anti-war left to Southern conservatives.

"This is a blank check," said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass. "The new money in this bill represents one cave-in too many. It is an endorsement of George Bush's policy of endless war."

Ironically, Democrats accomplished much of what they had promised last year. Of the six issues on the Democrats' "Six for '06" agenda, Congress sent five to the president, and won his signature on four: a minimum-wage increase, implementation of the Sept. 11 commission's recommendations, college-cost reduction and an energy law that mandates conservation and the use of more renewable energy.

Federal funding for stem-cell research was vetoed.

Congress also boosted spending on veterans' needs and overhauled ethics and lobbying rules. Democrats on Wednesday unveiled a proposal to create the first nonpartisan ethics-review panel in House history and passed the most significant gun-control legislation since the early 1990s, by tightening instant background checks.

Beyond that, Democrats secured the biggest overhaul of ethics and lobbying rules since Watergate. And they passed a slew of bills that received little notice, such as money for math and science teachers, tax relief for homeowners in foreclosure, a doubling of basic research funding and reclamation projects for the hurricane-devastated Gulf Coast.

But the long-awaited showdown with Bush on the federal budget was a draw. The president got his war funding, while Democrats — using "emergency" funding designations — broke through his spending limit by $11 billion, the amount they promised to add after Republicans rejected a proposed $22 billion domestic spending increase.

Remarkably, House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, praised the final "omnibus" spending bill in glowing terms.

Yet, Democrats failed on some of the issues that key constituents wanted most.

The prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, remains open. Bush's warrantless-eavesdropping program was codified and expanded. Lawmakers could not eliminate the CIA's use of harsh interrogation tactics.

Democratic leaders also could not overcome vetoes on an expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), despite winning over large numbers of Republicans.

Bush prevailed on every Iraq-themed fight, beginning in February with a nonbinding resolution that opposed the winter troop increase.

Some senior Democrats do not expect a significant change in Iraq policy unless a Democrat wins the White House in 2008.

This has left many Democrats resorting to openly political arguments, picking up a theme that Republicans hurled — obstructionism — during the Democrats' years in the minority. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., conceded it was time for Democrats to change the message to a starkly political one: If you want change, elect more Democrats.