Editorial: Hoping for a clean slate

Monday, Dec. 18, 2006 | 7:23 a.m.

When Congress reconvenes in January, the new Democratic leadership will tackle new business that is to include the Bush administration's next funding request for the Iraq war.

What Democrats have said they won't do is immediately dive into the nine spending bills that Republicans left undone when Congress ended its 2006 session earlier this month.

Incoming chairmen of the Senate and House Appropriations Committees, Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., and Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., issued a joint statement saying that they will maintain funding of most government agencies at current levels until fall, with a few accommodations for agencies that need more money.

This is because the Republican-led Congress finished only two of the 11 spending bills that were due Oct. 1. Republicans were divided on some of the measures, but the bills also stalled because Republican leaders wanted to avoid voting on contentious issues before the Nov. 7 election.

After voters ousted Republicans from congressional control, they simply chose not to complete the spending bills, instead passing a continuing resolution to fund government at existing levels until Feb. 15, leaving incoming Democratic leaders to start 2007 with a financial mess to untangle.

But Democrats aren't taking the bait. Democrats say they will continue to finance the government using a continuing resolution, which will give them time to fully examine Bush's proposed spending plans for the war and other programs.

When fall rolls around, Democratic leaders told The New York Times in a recent story, they will tackle the spending bills without earmarks - the pet projects that lawmakers seek for their home districts. Under Republican rule, earmarks bogged down every spending bill that came across the table.

Certainly, Democrats will take a heap of criticism for this decision. But they knew that going in - just as they knew that Republicans would leave behind a bloated bureaucracy, a monumental national debt, a rudderless war in Iraq and the wreckage of failing domestic programs, such as the Medicare prescription plan.

This is the legacy Democrats typically inherit from years of Republican rule - a government in shambles that is unable to support itself and adequately serve Americans. Still, Democratic leaders already are showing that they are going to move forward, regardless of the rubble that Republicans have left in their path.