A Guide To The First 100 'Hours' Of The New Democratic-Controlled Congress

WASHINGTON — When Nancy Pelosi takes over as Speaker of the House in January, her first priority is to break the legislative speed record of Franklin D. Roosevelt, enacting a full plate of bills in the first 100 hours of the 110th Congress.

It all depends, though, on what the definition of "hour" is.

It took Roosevelt roughly 100 days to enact his sweeping "New Deal" agenda to restart the U.S. economy during the Great Depression in 1933 - back when a day was a day.

But Pelosi plans to enact her "New Direction" agenda in 100 hours in January - when an hour is actually a "legislative" hour, which could be a day, or days, or even a week.

There is no definition of a "legislative" hour in the rules of Congress. But it appears to refer to the time in Congress between "one-minutes," at the beginning of the day when an unlimited number of House members can get permission to address any subject of interest for one minute, and "special orders," at the end of the legislative day when members deliver speeches on subjects of their choice up to 60 minutes.

Then, of course, there's the daily prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance, the approval of the previous day's Journal of actions, and any special announcements by the leadership - all part of the regular day in Congress.

Since the election in November, Pelosi has spoken more about "legislative" hours than about the plain old 60-minute hours, as she did before the election, apparently in an effort to discourage expectations that her "New Direction" agenda will fly through Congress quite so quickly.

Pelosi's remarks before and after the Democratic victory in the midterm congressional elections provides this guide to what efforts to expect from the Democrats when the new Congress convenes Jan. 4:

"DRAIN THE SWAMP"

- Prohibit the receipt of gifts, including meals, entertainment and travel, from lobbyists.

- Ban travel on corporate jets.

- Expand public disclosure of campaign contributions and client fees.

- Consider establishing a new independent ethics panel to police the House.

- Reform the "earmarking" process by requiring conference committee meetings to be open to the public and conference reports to be posted publicly on the Internet 24 hours before consideration.

- Promote bipartisan administration of the House, including regular meetings of both parties to discuss scheduling and operations of the House.

- Allow open, full and fair floor debate on bills under a procedure that grants the minority the right to offer amendments or substitute legislation.

"REAL SECURITY"

- Enact all the recommendations of the commission that investigated the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

- Establish a new House committee to keep watch over government spending on intelligence.

- Screen 100 percent of containers and cargo bound for the United States in ships or airplanes at the point of origin.

- Provide greater assistance to local firefighters, police and emergency medical workers.

- Invest more money in public health to combat biological terrorism and pandemics.

- Double the size of U.S. Special Forces.

- Rebuild the U.S. military with greater investments in pay, technology, equipment and manpower.

- Enact a new GI Bill of Rights that guarantees health care and mental health services to active duty troops and veterans.

- Increase production of alternate fuels and set the United States on a course to achieving energy independence by 2020.

"PROSPERITY AND OPPORTUNITY"

- Raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour.

- Link a congressional pay raise to a hike in the minimum wage.

- End subsidies for Big Oil.

- Cut student loan interest rates in half to 3.4 percent for students and 4.25 percent for parents and increase the maximum on Pell grants to $5,600.

- Provide a tax credit for college tuition, up to $3,000.

- Allow the government to negotiate lower drug and HMO prices for Medicare recipients.

- Promote expanded stem cell research.

- Oppose any proposal to privatize Social Security.

- Require companies to provide accurate and timely information on under-funded pension plans.

- Institute a "pay-as-you-go" approach in federal budgeting to eliminate deficits, possibly requiring a roll back on some Bush tax cuts for taxpayers earning more than $250,000 a year.