Dems vs. Repubs in the 110th Congress

Considering that the Democrats are up against partisan Republicans right now, the Dems of the 110th Congress haven't done too bad, if you look at yesterday's entry in the Democratic Caucus's Senate Journal.

Here's what the Dems accomplished:

• Passed the first minimum-wage increase in a decade



• Set aside more than $6 billion for hurricane relief; unfortunately, this was part of a $95 billion war spending bill



• Passed legislation out of committee that will provide the largest increase in Veterans Affairs funding in history



• Set aside an additional $1.8 billion for veterans' health care; this was unfortunately tacked on to the Iraq supplemental appropriations bill



• Passed and ethics and lobbying reform bill



• Passed a bill to better regulate the student loan industry



• Passed what it calls a fiscally responsible $2.9 trillion federal budget that promises big spending increases for education and health care and a federal surplus in 5 years



• Passed an energy bill increasing fuel-efficiency standards for the first time since 1975

Here's what they tried to do but failed because of the Repubs:

• Change course in Iraq



• Create tax incentives for clean energy



• Authorize amounts in fiscal 2007 for U.S. intelligence activities and agencies



• Allow stem cell research

Great work, legislators. Now please keep moving along, and put the impeachment of first Cheney and then Bush on the table. You're running behind on that one. (Hat tip to the Carpetbagger Report.)



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