'New Direction' is New Theme for Democratic Plan

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi previews the "New Direction for America" platform hammered out by Democratic members of Congress, mayors and governors.

WASHINGTON (By Kathy Kiely, USA Today) June 14, 2006 — Democratic House and Senate leaders are planning to reduce the cost of student loans and prescription drugs, raise the minimum wage and launch an effort to develop alternative fuels if they win back control of Congress.

In an interview Tuesday with USA TODAY, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi previewed the "New Direction for America" platform hammered out by Democratic members of Congress, mayors and governors. She and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid plan to formally unveil the plan today.

"The American people need to know, if you win, what are your priorities," she said. Reid said the party is standing "with the people we have always stood with: seniors, students and the hardworking families of America. We intend to tackle the issues that matter most."

Democrats need to pick up 15 seats in November to regain control of the House of Representatives. In the Senate, six additional seats would give Democrats control.

Pelosi discouraged comparisons with the Republican "Contract With America," a 10-point pledge that GOP lawmakers and candidates signed six weeks before the 1994 election. That campaign manifesto helped the GOP win control of both the House and Senate for the first time in 40 years.

She said Democratic candidates will be "independent representatives for their districts," a nod to the differing views within the party on issues such as abortion, gun control and Iraq. They are points on which Pelosi of California and Reid of Nevada haven't always agreed.

The Democrats' plan would increase the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour from $5.15, grant authority to the secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate lower prescription-drug prices with pharmaceutical companies for those in Medicare's drug program and cut student-loan interest rates — rising to 6.8% in July — by half.

The agenda also calls for enacting recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, formed after the 2001 terror attacks, to boost national security and funding for it, and for eliminating about $18 billion in tax breaks and subsidies for oil companies. Pelosi said savings would go to develop alternative fuels.

Rep. Thomas Reynolds, a New York Republican who chairs his party's House campaign committee, said Democrats' agenda would amount to "bumper sticker slogans." He demurred when asked whether the GOP plans to respond with a second contract.

The parties' role reversal reflects the political landscape. President Bush's 38% approval rating in a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll last weekend is encouraging Democrats to sound national campaign themes and Republicans to avoid them. The same poll found 51% of registered voters would vote for a Democratic congressional candidate; 39% for a Republican.

Ex-House majority leader Dick Armey, a 1994 contract author, says his former colleagues "need to do some serious substantive legislation" to improve their electoral chances. Armey, a conservative Republican, says his GOP colleagues are "wasting time" debating constitutional amendments to ban gay marriage and flag burning. "They're not doing real work. They're making political statements," he says.