Pelosi’s “Six for ‘06″ Plan
Friday, December 1st, 2006Let’s take a look at what Nancy Pelosi, incoming Democratic Speaker of the House, has established as the Democratic Agenda for the new house, or the “Six for 06″ plan (which by the way is actually 7… why not just say “Seven for ‘07?”):
** Draining the swamp — break the link between lobbyists and legislation and commit to pay-as-you-go budgeting, no new deficit spending
** Making America more secure — implement the independent 9/11 Commission recommendations
** Giving Americans a raise — increase the minimum wage
** Making college more affordable — cut the interest rate in half on federally subsidized student loans
** Making health care more affordable — negotiate for lower prescription drug prices
** Ending subsidies for Big Oil
** Giving hope to families with devastating diseases — allow stem cell research
Breaking it down one-by-one:
Draining the swamp — break the link between lobbyists and legislation and commit to pay-as-you-go budgeting, no new deficit spending
Democrats as well as Republicans in Congress live off of earmarks and lobbyists; I don’t see a firm break between special interests and Congressmen any more possible under Pelosi than it was under Hastert. “Pay-as-you-go budgeting” is a nice way of saying no more tax cuts that “drain from the deficit”; in Pelosi’s world, and others who show no knowledge of how supply-side economics works, the Bush tax cuts “cost” the federal government money. They completely ignore the fact that the tax cuts helped lend a hand to the growing economy and resulted in higher tax revenues for the government. They also make no reference to cutting spending. As bad as the Republicans may be with only fulfilling half of the solution, by cutting taxes yet embracing growth in spending, Democrats are absolutely blind with their desire to both raise taxes and - get this - raise spending. Tax cuts do not add to the deficit. Out-of-control spending does.
Making America more secure — implement the independent 9/11 Commission recommendations
We’ve already seen before Congress has even convened under the new Speaker that the Democrats are already backpedalling on this. No further comment is necessary.
Giving Americans a raise — increase the minimum wage
Funny, last time I checked Americans as a whole weren’t employed by the Federal Government, so how can the government “give Americans a raise”? Oh yes, that’s right, by legislating a labor cost that will be higher than the equilibrium cost in many markets, that will in the end only add to inflation, and that will surely enrich the Democrats’ union buddies just in time for 2008. Sounds grand!
Making college more affordable — cut the interest rate in half on federally subsidized student loans
I don’t see a problem with trying to help students go to college, and cutting interest rates on loans sounds like a good idea except for the fact that this will cost the government money - and neither the Dems nor the Republicans will cut spending elsewhere to make up for the loss in expected revenue from future loan interest payments. Good idea, but will be poorly implemented.
Making health care more affordable — negotiate for lower prescription drug prices
Read: price controls for a free-market commodity. Do I need to say anything more?
Ending subsidies for Big Oil
“Subsidies” that the Democrats love to rail against Big Oil for are not actual subsidies (like free money the government loves to give to farmers, etc, which the Democrats seem to have no problem with) - they are exemptions from taxes on royalties for oil exploration for oil companies. I do have a problem with favorable tax policies for certain companies, industries, or even people, but the Democrats have this ideologically backwards. I don’t see a problem with taxing every business the same (well, technically I do, I’d rather turn to the FairTax or a flat income tax, but I digress), but one can’t ignore the fact that giving these companies exemptions does free up more money they can use for research, for drilling, for their employees, etc. Memo to Democrats: there are no “subsidies” for Big Oil. If you’re going to make hay about something at least be honest about it. How about cutting those agricultural subsidies?
Giving hope to families with devastating diseases — allow stem cell research
This implies that the evil Bush has placed a ban on stem-cell research in the United States, which is flatly a lie. There is no ban or limitations on privately-funded stem-cell research. Bush was the first president to authorize federal spending on stem-cell research (which I disagree with, I say leave it to the free market and keep politicians out of it), which the Democrats and the media will not advertise to Americans. They are up in arms because Bush made a political and moral decision to fund research on the lines already open, but not on further opened lines (take advantage of the information already available, but don’t spend any more tax dollars on opening up new research that would result in the destruction of embryos). There is no ban on private stem-cell research. Private companies can conduct whatever research they wish, but Pelosi won’t bother to let the American people know about it. She and her counterparts in Congress will only seek to expand federally-funded research, wasting more taxpayers’ money on things that the private market can handle.
That’s my brief synopsis; Byron York at National Review delves into the issues in greater depth.