Our elected lawmakers have returned to Washington, D.C. for the second session of the 107th Congress. And with few exceptions, the momentum for the moment has been captured by Bush and the Republican House majority. President Bush, fresh from his recent State of the Union speech in late January, is pushing hard for more corporate tax cuts and vastly increased military spending. Any chances for real tax relief, extension of unemployment benefits, or health care assistance for working people are dwindling with each passing day. While most Democrats support a more worker-friendly package of government economic relief, it appears that they are not yet willing to make a real push for passage of these much-needed items.
President Bush and his corporate allies seem intent on following a course of action that keeps the U.S. military expansion in front of the U.S. public as the major initiative of the Administration. Combined with declarations that our worsening recession "is over", and the Bush-Cheney White House are gambling that working people and the Democrats will not make relief for working people a major issue as the November elections approach. Stay tuned!