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US Elections 2008 will be held in the middle of the term of the 110th US Congress. The proceedings of the 110th US Congress will have a telling effect on the US Elections. The first session of the US Congress Schedule 2008 started on January 4th 2007. Both the houses of the US Congress, the Senate and the House of Representatives are dominated by Democrat members, with Nancy Pelosi as the Speaker of the House, which has Muslim and Buddhist members for the first time in US history. The first objective of the House appears to be a commitment to execute the '100 hours plan' proposed by the Democratic Party before the mid-term elections of 2006, by spending a total of 100 legislative hours at the House.
The major legislative function that the 110th Congress performed dealt predictably with the Iraq crisis, and the position of the American forces in Iraq. The Democrats passed a bill of 124 billion US dollars of emergency expenses to finance the war. But the bill dictated clear lines of rearrangement of the troop levels and plans for army withdrawal. However, President George W. Bush expectedly vetoed the bill. It was the second time he exercised his vetoing right in his capacity as the President. Responding to the deadlock that arose thereafter, the Democrats insisted that the amount be spent on largely rehabilitation projects.
With the second session of the Congress slated to start on the 15th of January in 2008, it remains to be seen how much the proceedings of the second session influence the election results. The Democrats will definitely push with their plans of withdrawal of American troops, in accordance to their campaign strategies. With the Democrats showing exemplary performance in the mid-term Congressional elections, successfully holding on to all their seats, and not conceding a single one to the Republicans, the Democrats will start their Presidential campaign on high note. The term of the Congress continues till the January of 2009. The voters are expected to keep in mind the composition of the Congress while they elect their next President.
However, it is also expected that the Republicans will tighten up their act. If the Republicans have the vetoing act of President Bush to show for their intention to carry on a more aggressive foreign policy. They are also intent on exposing on what they term to be the ideological hypocrisy of the Democrats, of opposing the War on one hand and passing the bill funding the war on the other. With both parties intent to draw points from their performance in the US Congress, it remains to be seen which way the public opinion will swing in the forthcoming elections.
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