Democrats to run in `New Direction'

WASHINGTON -- If Democrats regain control of the House of Representatives this fall, they are vowing to pursue an aggressive agenda in their first week in power that would hike the minimum wage, slash interest rates on student loans, and install a new package of restrictions on lobbying activities that is designed to increase accountability in government.

House Democratic leaders hope the ``New Direction" platform they outlined yesterday will persuade voters to select Democratic candidates in this fall's mid-term congressional elections. Though House Democrats bristle at comparisons to Republicans' 1994 ``Contract With America," the wide range of domestic proposals represent an answer to the GOP's oft-repeated charge that Democrats lack ideas for governing.

``This is a unified Democratic message," House minority leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said yesterday in an interview. ``This is a national message about core values that the Democratic Party will fight for and take us in a new direction. Democrats are wedded to that. It defines us, rather than have the Republicans define us."

Democrats need to pick up 15 seats in the 435-member House to take control of the legislative chamber that shifted to Republican hands in the 1994 elections. Analysts say Democrats could take those seats if voter anger fuels an anti-incumbent wave, but they caution that the small number of politically competitive districts make s such gains extremely difficult.

Republicans quickly attacked the Democratic platform as a collection of nice sounding ideas that will harm the economy and force tax increases.

``Democrats are calling for more taxes, more spending, and more government-funded programs," said House majority whip Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican.

But Pelosi said Democrats deliberately avoided big-ticket government programs in the policy initiatives they rolled out yesterday. The list includes the first boost to the minimum wage in a decade, along with a push to develop alternative energy sources and to reduce the price tag of the new Medicare prescription-drug benefit.

None of those moves would add to government spending, Pelosi said. The only tax increase would come through a rollback of tax cuts President Bush has given to upper-income Americans, Pelosi said, though she added that specific details of a tax increase have not yet been agreed to.

``This is a fiscally sound list," said Pelosi, who would be in line to become House speaker if Democrats get control of the House.

Bush predicted yesterday that Republicans will retain control of the House and Senate because his party is largely united about the need to finish the US mission in Iraq. Today, the House and Senate are both debating the war, and Democrats are divided about the best way for the country to proceed.

``What's going to matter [in the election] is who has got the plan that will enable us to succeed in Iraq and keep the economy growing," Bush said at a news conference yesterday. ``I look forward to the campaign. And I believe we're going to hold the House and the Senate, because our philosophy is one that is forward-looking and optimistic and has worked."

Pelosi, in turn, scolded Bush for using the Iraq war as a political wedge. She added that Democrats have coalesced around a plan to reduce the number of troops in Iraq in the near future, but she doesn't think Democrats' electoral chances are hurt if the party doesn't have a single position on the war.

``It's the president's war, and one of the things we'll do is hold the president of the United States accountable for his war," Pelosi said. ``We don't foist any position on any of our members."

The Democrats' ideas are the product of months of talks between members of Congress and Democratic mayors and governors. They are designed to highlight areas where Democrats believe Republicans have been ineffective, and to give Democratic candidates a solid party platform.

Pelosi said Democratic leaders won't force candidates to sign pledges or other statements. Republicans produced the ``Contract" in 1994 to outline 10 priorities that they promised to vote on if they won control of the House, and famously guaranteed it with their signatures.

``We're not talking about a contract where we make people sign up," she said. ``We're talking about our members and our candidates being independent representatives of their districts. This is something that Democrats will take home to their districts."

Republicans have long challenged Democrats to create their own agenda, instead of simply opposing the GOP's. Yesterday, House majority leader John A. Boehner said in a statement that Democrats still won't be able to overcome ``their record of obstruction and negligence."

``Nancy Pelosi and her Capitol Hill Democrats are in disarray," said Boehner, an Ohio Republican. ``The Republican record of action on behalf of working Americans stands in stark contrast to the Democrat record."