US Congress recesses amid Democratic achievements
(Repeats story issued on Sunday, Aug. 5)
WASHINGTON, Aug 6 (Reuters) - After months of being flogged for accomplishing little, Democrats who control Congress headed into a summer recess having passed several high-profile bills from raising the minimum wage to bolstering U.S. security and expanding children's health care.
Their top priority -- ending the Iraq war -- remains frustratingly unfulfilled. But the Democrats who took over in January were able to go home early on Sunday for a monthlong break having won more support in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives for bringing combat troops home by early next year, marking a significant turnaround from last year.
Democrats also will be able to batter President George W. Bush and congressional Republicans for sticking with a war policy that droves of Americans increasingly oppose.
And it was Bush's fellow conservatives who helped kill his top domestic priority, immigration reform.
Much of the Democrats' progress was incremental and out of the spotlight of the fights with Bush over the Iraq war, now in its fifth year. While those battles were raging, Democrats were able to plow ahead with bills they say will fulfill campaign promises to improve national security and help the neediest.
"We have made more progress in the last seven days than previous congresses made in the last seven years," Democratic leaders boasted about the spurt of legislation that passed in the final days.
Some nonpartisan observers agreed Democrats had reason to boast.
"Democrats have had a good run legislatively over the past few weeks and that does help them going into the recess," said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics.
That would be welcome news for a Congress that this year has seen its public approval ratings dip even below Bush's chronically low polling. A Pew Research Center survey released on Thursday said Bush scored a 29 percent approval rating, while Democratic leaders were at a similarly lethargic 33 percent.
Even though those poor ratings do not necessarily translate into public support for Republican lawmakers, Democrats will have their work cut out for them, trying to convince voters back home that they have responded to last November's call for change.
And they will face another challenge when they return from recess in early September when the future of the Iraq war will again take center stage with a mid-September progress report to Congress.
A battle over funding the government in the fiscal year starting Oct. 1 also looms, with Bush having promised to veto bills that spend more than he has asked for.
Democrats will point to these accomplishments:
* The first minimum wage increase in a decade went into effect in July helping the lowest-paid workers. Republicans repeatedly blocked the pay hike when they controlled Congress. Continued...
