Essential Estrogen

One of the newest Iowa faces in the beltway, Rep. Dave Loebsack, says the work done last November to elect Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress was "a down payment."

"You all know it is going to take an increase of the majority in the House and Senate and a new president to put this country on the right track," Loebsack said during remarks at the 2nd Congressional District Democratic Workshop in North Liberty. "We are now and will continue to do all we can between now and January of 2009, but we are going to have to have a new president."

The former Cornell College professor told the 70 or so Democrats gathered that media reports of a "do-nothing Congress" are gravely mistaken.

"You hear a lot in the media about how this Congress is like the last one -- that it's a do-nothing Congress," he said. "We've done a lot more than the media are telling you, especially in the House of Representatives."

While outlining the accomplishments made by the House within the first 100 hours of the last session, Loebsack was also quick to admit the progress he and other Democratic lawmakers made was in vain.

"I can't control George Bush, unfortunately," he said. "I can't control what happens in the Senate and Tom Harkin can't control what happens in the Senate. That's because we've got [Minority Leader] Mitch McConnell acting as the biggest road block this side of George Bush to what we're trying to do in this country."

McConnell, R-Kentucky, remains one of the strongest supporters of the war in Iraq, which he considers an integral part of the war on terrorism. In June, however, he told a contingent of troops in Kentucky at Fort Campbell when they were about to ship out on a 15-month deployment to Iraq, "The majority of the public has decided the Iraq effort is not worth it. That puts a lot of pressure on Congress to act because public opinion in a democracy is not irrelevant."

Loebsack says that "Iraq is the most contentious issue in America."

"I said while I was campaigning and I continue to say that Iraq was a war that never should have happened," he said. "Now that we are there, we've got to figure out what we're going to do. As far as I'm concerned we've got to begin to remove our troops tomorrow. I certainly don't want to see them there any longer than a year if that's at all possible. We're not getting that done because George Bush is stopping us. My view, for what it is worth, is that George Bush is going to try to stop everything we do."

Despite the obstacles, he says the slim Democratic majority in Congress will continue to work and do "whatever it can" to make changes.

"We are trying to take a number of steps [between now and January 2009]," he said. "We are trying to bring to the floor of the House a number of measures that aren't going to satisfy everybody -- they don't satisfy me by any means. They fall far short of what I think everyone in this room would like to see us do, but with them we can continue to build some type of political momentum."

Like January 2009, Loebsack believes September is too far away.

"I've spoken with some Republicans on the other side of the aisle -- people like Walter Jones who, two years ago, came over to our side on this," he said. "We are trying to get more Republicans on board and not wait until Sept. 15 for this to happen. We have to keep pushing because it is time we get our troops out of the middle of a civil war that cannot be won."

Most of all, Loebsack stressed that he and his colleagues in the House were not going to just roll over and hope for reinforcements after the next general election.

"Even when George Bush vetoes something, we're going to keep pushing it," he said. "We're not giving up. He's going to be gone in January of 2009 and we're not going to just sit back and do nothing in the meantime.

"When we talk about moving this country in a different direction, we are talking about the minimum wage, helping workers organize better, universal health care, getting out of Iraq, higher education, and having more funds and resources available for students to go to college at all levels. We are talking about the things we talked about in the campaign and we are working to make them realities."