It’s been three months, and it’s already a long year

Kevin Drum noted some of the recent activities on the Hill to explain why he’s been feeling grouchy.

* Passed: A tort reform bill that makes it harder for ordinary citizens to sue corporations who harm them.

* Coming soon: A bankruptcy bill that will make it harder for distressed workers to declare bankruptcy and will increase credit card company profits by an estimated $1 billion.

* Coming soon: A transportation bill that adds two unpaid hours onto the work days of short-haul and long-haul truckers.

* In progress: Changes to Social Security that will almost certainly include benefit cuts for current workers.

* In progress: Making permanent a set of tax cuts that primarily helps the upper class.

It prompted Kevin to ask, “Can anyone name even one thing the Bush administration has done this year — or is proposing to do — that would benefit ordinary workers?” The answer, of course, is no. Moreover, I think Kevin missed a couple of points.

In addition to the items he listed, a few other regressive policies come to mind from just the past couple of months.

* Rejected: A measure to increase the $5.15 hourly minimum wage by $2 over two years.

* In progress: A federal budget that offers more tax cuts for millionaires, while cutting funds for job training, Medicaid, first responders, education, veterans’ benefits, programs to reduce and alleviate poverty, and the Earned Income Tax Credit.

No, Republicans don’t even pretend to care anymore. Their “accountability moment” has come and gone.