Senate Dems: Stand Firm With The House

More work has been done for the people by the new House in 42 hours than the previous conservative Congress did in two years.

However, as has become obvious, the Republican minority has the numbers to kill popular legislation in the Senate, and Democrats may respond to that by cutting weak deals.

In particular, Senate Dems may dirty up the House bill to raise the minimum wage with irresponsible business tax giveaways.

They may undermine the House bill requiring Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices, instead merely "allowing" Medicare to do so -- rendering the bill meaningless since Bush and his Medicare chief don't want to negotiate.

And according to today's CongressDaily AM, the key Senate committee chairman on energy has not committed to supporting the House bill taking back $14 billion in tax breaks to Big Oil and investing it in renewable energy.

But Senate Dems should take note of the House vote totals. Every bill commands wide public support, and in turn, attracted significant GOP votes.

Further, Senate Dems should learn from their success last night in passing the Ethics bill. When Republicans blocked it, Senate Dems publicly shamed them, with Majority Leader Harry Reid daring them "for the next two years ... to go home and explain what they did to try to destroy the most significant ethics and lobbying reform since Watergate."

Sure, there was some minor dealing after that to get final passage. Nothing wrong with a big stick in one hand and a little carrot in the other, so long as core principles are not compromised.

But Senate Dems understood they had the upper hand, their principles for clean and open government were in line with the people, and the Republicans blocked the bill at their own political peril.

The same is true for the rest of the First 100 Hours agenda, and so, Senate Dems should stand firm with the House and the public.

In all likelihood, survival instinct will kick in, and enough Republicans will support the First 100 Hours agenda to get it to the president's desk.

Or, if Republicans block passage anyway, they will be the ones who will face the wrath of the voters, not those who heeded the public will.

Bill Scher blogs for Campaign for America's Future