Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (ah, that was fun to write) has put forward a "hundred hour plan" for the first weeks of Democratic control of the house. During the first hundred hours, Democrats will:
- Raise the minimum wage.
- Put in place an ethics plan that "breaks the link" between lobbyists and legislation.
- Protect the nation by implementing the recommendations of the independent 9/11 Commission.
- Eliminate the clause that prohibits the government for bargaining over drug prices.
- Promote stem cell research.
- Cut interest rates for student loans.
- Roll back subsidies for oil companies.
- Protect Social Security.
It's a good start, and if we do this, it will show not only Democrats, but Independents and Republicans that this congress puts the people first. However, if you don't mind, Madam Speaker, I have some suggestions for the first hundred hours... and the second.
Clean, Clear, and Simple Text
For that first hundred hours, I want you to do just as you've promised. However, I'd like to include an order for a change in how congressional bills are written. No, I don't want these scrawled in the blood of fallen Republicans, and I don't want them drafted in backrooms without an elephant in sight. Tempting as it might be to kick a few downed opponents who shut us out for more than a decade, there's something more important that we need.
We need bills that are simple, short, to the point, and written in text so clear that anyone with a sixth grade reading level can understand their intent. When that bill for minimum wage comes out, it should say something like this:
The Revised Minimum Wage Act of 2007
Any worker in America is entitled to a compensation of at least seven dollar and fifty cents ($7.50) for every hour of work. Starting on January 1, 2008, the minimum wage will be increased each year based on the percentage increase in the cost of living as calculated by the Congressional Budget Office. This minimum wage is in effect for all workers, in all industries, with the exception of those working as volunteers without compensation, or workers helping with a business owned by their family. Failure to pay at this rate is punishable by a fine equal to fifty dollars for every hour that a worker didn't receive at least this level of pay.
Now, I'm not a lawyer, and I'm not an expert on labor, so I'm sure those words would need a bit of wrangling. But what they don't need is a lot of obfuscation or sixteen pages of exceptions. What they really,
really don't need is a rider on highway spending, or a new runway somewhere, or even something we'd really like to see, like some pull back from Bush's detain anyone, anywhere, anytime plan.
Each item that comes down in those first hundred hours has to be clean as a whistle. There should be absolutely no excuse available for those voting against these bills. The Republicans in congress and Bush are either for an increase in the minimum wage, or they're not. They're for giving students a break on loans, or they're not. Democrats can't afford to give them an easy way out by embellishing these bills with pet projects, even if we think it's the bestest most important pet of all time and we've been waiting twelve long years just for a chance to get this little gem attached to a bill. We've waited twelve years, we can wait another hundred hours.
There's not one item in that first hundred hours list that should take more than a page. Two, tops.
When you get to the end of this list, you can go on to what you like, but think about making a habit of clear language, short pieces of legislation, and no more than one topic in a bill. Make it a habit to pass them quickly, and get them to the president's desk.
If something you do in one of these simple bills turns out to be wrong, don't point to it as a sure sign that legislation has to be a thousand pages long and anticipate every possible contingency that could ever occur. Instead, just fix it. When a hole pops up, plug it.
Americans have learned that "omnibus" is another word for "and the kitchen sink." We don't want omnibus legislation on anything. We don't want a bill that trades off a thousand little evils to get one good. Maybe there should be a bridge to some little island in Alaska. Maybe it's really important. Here's a good way to find out: put it on a bill all by itself and see how many votes it gets. I suspect the answer will be that it really wasn't all that important after all.
Sure, there are some disadvantages with this kind of approach. First off, there are a lot fewer opportunities to hide things we don't want anyone to notice until after the bill has been signed. And there won't be any slapping a thin coat of education spending on a big stack of pork steaks and then claiming we "voted in favor of the children." Democrats can live with that.
There's a side benefit to all this: next time, when the Republicans start up the dirty campaign machine, they won't have any free "gotcha" moments by looking for those places where they stuffed a military program into an corporate giveaway, then claiming we "voted against the troops." Democrats will even be able to clearly show that we voted to give the troops the help they needed, while voting against someone's ten billion dollar remote-controlled wonder plane because the two won't be shoved into the same envelope.
Keep it simple. Avoid getting lost in the weeds. America will notice.
The Second Hundred Hours
Once you've cleaned your plate of those first items, it's time to fill up the next week with more clear, brief, effective legislation. It's time to shock those Republicans who thought they were voting for gridlock by showing that this Democratic congress is a bill-generating machine.
For the second hundred hours, I've got two words for you: Energize America.
Madam speaker, you already mentioned this in the hundred hours plan, saying that Democrats would "energize America" by developing energy independence. Well, it just so happens that we've got a plan for you. A plan that was already developed in public with thousand of participants. A plan that strikes a balanced approach, calling for both conservation and alternate fuels technology. A plan called Energize America.
Energize America is made of twenty clear ideas, and every one of them is ripe to be turned into another step toward freedom from America's addiction to imported oil. There are sections dedicated to making the playing field fair for alternative energy, harvesting the wind, making solar power common, improving the mileage of our vehicles, cleaning up the coal industry (including eliminating mountaintop removal), and making every American home more energy efficient.
Energize America is a critical step for not only our energy picture, but for our foreign policy and the competitiveness of American industry. The plan improves the physical environment and provides more room for innovation in the business environment. It saves American lives, and provides American jobs. It frees us from an economy that's hooked to the smokestacks of the past, and points us toward the future. It's not a plan that claims to have all the answers, it's a plan that invites Americans to participate in their own salvation.
It's a plan that can serve as a model not just on how to make America energy independent, but on how the environment, employment, and economy can all rise together
When you've finished with that, there are some other things worth thinking about. Things like serious election reform so that good candidates in 2008 won't have to spend a fortune just to be heard. Things like showing the Republicans how to write a bill on second term abortions that protects the health of women and will actually stand up to a constitutional test (and, not incidentally, take what little wind remains from the Republican's sails).
But those things can wait to the third hundred hours. For your second hundred hours, setting America free from our dependence on foreign oil will be plenty.