HITTING THE GROUND RUNNING

After sweeping both houses of Congress from the do-nothing rubberstamp Republican Congress last week, the Democrats are revving their engines as they prepare to take over in less than two months. Given just how much there is to clean up after so long in the wilderness, it seems the Dems definitely have more than a few goals in mind, and I'm glad to see that the press is starting to pick up on their agenda.

I was scanning TPM Muckraker's The Daily Muck for things to write about and there were no less than five articles from various news sources covering all that the Dems have in mind come January 3. Among the efforts, the Democrats will restore the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction; will put a halt to legislation allowing for warrantless (and currently illegal) wiretaps; set up Congressional investigations to look into the government's response to Katrina, government contracting in Iraq, political interference in regulatory decisions by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration, allegations of war profiteering, the administration's use of prewar intelligence on Iraq and into Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force.

This is in addition to the 100 Hours plan that aims to put rules in place to "break the line between lobbyists and legislation," enacting all the recommendation made by the 9/11 Commission, raise the minimum wage, cut the interest rate on student loans in half, allow the the government to negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies for lower drug prices for Medicare patients and broaden the types of stem cell research allowed by federal funds.

The first few days and weeks of this new Democratically-led Congress will be exciting to watch, both for the Dems' determination to look back, but also to look ahead. We'll be watching.