Republican National Committee Release - 01 15 2007 Researchpiece

January 15, 2007

TIME BANDITS New Dem Leaders Unveil New Method Of Counting With “First 100 Hours” Gimmick _______________________________________________________

Dems Start Their “First 100 Hours” Clock Late; Then Freeze It: “Helping Fuel The GOP Complaint That The ‘100 Hours’ Plan Is Contrived Is The Fact That Democrats Appeared Confused As To When The ‘100 Hours’ Were Set To Begin.” (Jake Tapper, “Ambitious Agenda For First 100 Hours,” ABC News, 1/4/07) •

“[I]f You’re A House Democrat, You Don’t Start The Clock Running [January 4th], When The 110th Congress Is Sworn In And Voting Begins, Or Even Tomorrow, When A Package Of Measures Reaches The Floor To Rein In Fiscal Profligacy. You Fire The Starting Gun On Tuesday, Six Days Into The 110th Congress. Now That’s A Head Start.” (Jonathan Weisman, Op-Ed, “Eye On The Clock, House Democrats Put Their Focus On ‘100 Hours’,” The Washington Post, 1/4/07)

“The Clock Is Ticking For House Democrats, But It’s Hard To Tell What Time It Is.” (Kasie Hunt, “Clock Ticking On Dems’ 100Hour Agenda,” The Associated Press, 1/13/07)

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“That’s Because Just As The Official Clock For A Basketball Or Football Game Stops For Time-Outs And Commercial Breaks, Democrats Aren’t Counting The Minutes Spent On Business Unrelated To Those Six Designated Bills.” (Kasie Hunt, “Clock Ticking On Dems’ 100-Hour Agenda,” The Associated Press, 1/13/07) o “According To Its Stewardship, The Clock Runs Only During Actual Debate Of Legislation, Meaning It Stops During Procedural Points Of Order And The One-Minute Mini-Oratories House Members Routinely Give In The Morning–Most Often …” (Chris Wilson, “Clock Stops Often For 100-Hour Agenda,” U.S. News & World Report, 1/12/07)

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“So While The House Had Been In Session For Nearly 56 Hours Since The 110th Congress Was Sworn In Jan. 4, The Clock On Pelosi’s Web Site Suggested That Less Than Half That Time 23 Hours, 34 Minutes Had Elapsed By The Close Of Business Friday.” (Kasie Hunt, “Clock Ticking On Dems’ 100-Hour Agenda,” The Associated Press, 1/13/07)

Dems’ 100 Hour Deadline Keeps Moving: First Deadline: January 9th At 4 PM: “The House Democrats’ ‘100-hour agenda’ … should have lasted four days with, as any fourth-grade long-division whiz could tell you, a remainder of four hours left over. With Congress set to convene at noon on Thursday, January 4, the estimated date of conclusion was Tuesday, January 9, At 4 P.M.” (Chris Wilson, “Clock Stops Often For 100Hour Agenda,” U.S. News & World Report, 1/12/07)

Second Deadline: January 18th At 3 PM: “But well before the House reconvened, we learned that the 100-hour clock would tick only during ‘legislative hours,’ when the house was actually in session and working on bona fide legislation. There went the first three hours of day 1, during which each member is called on individually to register his or her vote for the new speaker. At an estimated 10-hour workday under Nancy Pelosi’s watch, a little more division yielded us 10 days, plus three hours, plus Martin Luther King Jr. Day on January 15, for an EDC of Thursday, January 18, at 3 p.m.” (Chris Wilson, “Clock Stops Often For 100Hour Agenda,” U.S. News & World Report, 1/12/07)

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Third Deadline: January 23rd At 8:30 PM: “Pelosi was administered the oath of office on the January 4 at 2:29 p.m. ….and by 5 p.m. members were debating House Res. 6, an internal measure promised by Democrats on the campaign trail that would tighten ethics rules and implement greater restrictions on lobbying … However, this was not considered by the clockmakers … to be official legislative business. That effort lasted through Friday afternoon, at which point they adjourned and elected to return on Tuesday, January 9, at 10:30 a.m., with the clock still idling at zero. EDC: Tuesday, January 23, at 8:30 p.m.” (Chris Wilson, “Clock Stops Often For 100-Hour Agenda,” U.S. News & World Report, 1/12/07)

Fourth Timeline: January 31st At 3 PM: “Six Hours and 46 minutes came off the clock on [January 9th] leaving 93:14 left … By [January 11th] it had ticked down to 82:12, averaging just under six hours a day. EDC: Wednesday, January 31, at about 3 p.m. That’s assuming five-day workweeks after the holiday.” (Chris Wilson, “Clock Stops Often For 100-Hour Agenda,” U.S. News & World Report, 1/12/07)

What They Are Saying About Dems’ New “Washington Time Zone”: Investor’s Business Daily: “The Democratic Congress may find it has to enact a new time zone just for Washington, because the hours there obviously go by differently than they do everywhere else. Turns out that the Democrats’ much-touted ‘100 hours,’ in which they promised to push through six major bills, is not real time at all.” (Editorial, “Blundered Hours,” Investor’s Business Daily, 1/16/07)

The Weekly Standard: “A New Direction promises, pointlessly, that Democrats will vote on their proposals in the first 100 hours of their Congress. If things continue this way the next time the Republicans win an election they’ll have exactly one hour and forty minutes to pass everything.” (Andrew Ferguson, “Enter Pelosi, Stage Left,” The Weekly Standard, 1/15/07) The New York Times’ Mark Leibovich: “But like dog years and the last two minutes of an N.B.A. game, ‘legislative time’ does not necessarily correspond to ‘real time.’” (Mark Leibovich, Op-Ed, “Competing House Clocks Tick At Different Speeds As Members Get Down To Business,” The New York Times, 1/13/07)

Pundits Agree 100 Hour Clock “An Incredible Gimmick.” CNNMoney.com Managing Editor Allen Wastler: “Karen, about this 100 hours thing. I mean it seems to me just an incredible gimmick. It’s kind of ridiculous …” (CNN’s “In The Money,” 1/13/07)

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