Richardson supports limiting raises
White House hopeful Bill Richardson wants to link presidential and congressional pay raises to efforts to lower the national deficit.
Richardson, the Democratic governor of New Mexico, has proposed a constitutional amendment to balance the budget and reduce reckless spending.
He also floated the idea of tying pay raises to deficit reduction.
"It won't pass but it is something I think deserves attention," he said of pay raise restriction.
At a house party in Bedford, N.H., yesterday, Richardson was asked how he would end partisan bickering in Washington and force Congress to return to doing "the people's work."
He said it seems unrealistic to think that issues such as healthcare and energy independence could be sorted out in a true bipartisan fashion, but said that he would urge leaders of both parties to spend one year working on three key problems without regard to party: the war in Iraq, Social Security, and the deficit.
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Edwards criticizes NAFTA
Democrat John Edwards told a union audience over the weekend that President Clinton's administration was responsible for trade agreements unpopular with labor unions and warned against electing "corporate Democrats."
The Democratic presidential hopeful tied his rival, Hillary Clinton, to the business interests that unions believe benefited from her husband's trade liberalization, to the detriment of workers.
Speaking to union carpenters in Las Vegas on Saturday, Edwards described the North American Free Trade Agreement as a blow to the middle class.
He said Bill Clinton was pushing to get it approved while the first lady was failing in her mission to reform healthcare.
"In the 1990s, we didn't get universal healthcare, which we needed," Edwards said. "We got NAFTA, which we didn't need."
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Clinton offers health plans
Senator Hillary Clinton said that she is ready to "return to the lion's den" to fight for reforms that she failed to implement as first lady.
"I've been down this road, I know it won't be easy," she told a crowd of about 600 people at a Las Vegas community center yesterday. "But I think the time has come."
The New York senator laid out her plans to open up the healthcare programs for federal employees and Congress members to the public, while capping premiums and making coverage plans portable across states and employers.
It was her first trip to Nevada since mid-August and her seventh to the state since launching her campaign.
She reiterated the importance she puts on the state, which holds its early caucus on Jan. 19.
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