House Democrats have hustled through President Obama’s agenda all year, only to see it stall in the Senate. They say they’re done with that and now it’s the Senate’s turn.
From spending bills and tough votes on major legislation such as climate change and health care, the House Democratic Caucus has been forced to walk the plank and then wait.
The Hill reported this week that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is assuring members privately that won’t be happening in 2010.
“The Speaker has told members in meetings that we’ve done our jobs,” a Democratic leadership aide said. “And that next year the Senate’s going to have to prove what it can accomplish before we go sticking our necks out any further.”
Though there are always cross-chamber grumbles, the move carries significance in that the agenda is already moving at a snail’s pace on the Senate side. If 2009 seemed slow, look out, Democrats say.
It’s also a dynamic as the health care bill gets more conservative than what the House passed earlier this year. House Democrats took a tough vote and are unlikely going to see the benefit of the “robust” public option they supported.
Politically members have been frustrated with Pelosi for forcing the votes even when they knew the Senate wouldn’t embrace what they had done. In the cases of vulnerable Democrats from redder districts, these aren’t votes they wanted to have to talk to their constituents about during breaks.
In addition to their health care bill, the House has passed appropriations bills, energy reform, higher education changes and Wall Street regulations.
Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) told reporters Thursday the House wants the Senate to start acting since their bills will lapse at the end of this Congressional session (Jan. 2011).
“We think it’s time for the Senate to start acting on those,” he said.
He said when it comes to immigration – a heated debate in years past that broke down after months of negotiations – that bill will originate in the Senate for sure.
“We recognize that at the end of a two-year period all the bills that have been debated and passed by the House lapse and you have to start over again,” he said.
“If they have ability to deal with what we’ve already given them and immigration reform we stand ready to work with them. There’s no point sending another bill over there until they’ve completed action on the House bills that have already been delivered,” he said.
