Just interviewed Congressman-elect Jason Altmire. He's having a good day. One gets the impression that the chaos/sense of exitement (and the amount of press covering) underscores just how important the day is to the country, he said.
The Agenda - small scale
He's looking forward to working on the issues he campaigned on - health care, education and so on. He told me he's on the Education and Labor Committee ("It's a good committee," He said. He added that it'll give him the chance to get to work on those issues from the beginning.)
The Agenda - large scale
The First Hundred hours came up in our chat. I asked about something I'd heard on the radio. On the way in last night, some radio commentator (and don't ask me who - I can't remember) made the charge of flip flopping on Speaker Pelosi's part. Leading up to the election, the radio person said, she was promising to work with Republicans on the House Business. Then once the election was over, she changed and said that in the 1st 100 hours, there'd be little or no input from the Republicans. I asked Almire about that - is there anything that needed to be reconciled there?
He said no. The Agenda of the 1st 100 hours is the stuff (minimum wage, prescription drugs, etc) that the country voted on. It's the stuff that alot of people wanted and voted for. He then added that House Republicans were going to tie it all up in committees/endless discussions and so on. So in order to get it voted, on it has to be moved quickly - without Republican obtructions.
The first 100 hours is going to set the tone for the rest of the two years.
Once the 100 hours are over, there'll be cooperation across the aisle. Cooperation that was not present when the Republicans were in charge. The primary thing is to restore the public's confidence in Congress.
On a far less political point, he's hoping that Bill Cowher sticks around (Altmire's a Stiller fan).
Today's a a good day in DC.
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