Just to follow up on Chris's earlier post, there's even more good news coming out of the Capitol. While I was happy to hear about ANWR drilling going down, I had been very uncomfortable with the trade-off being offered for it. As Chris noted, the Republican plans for ANWR had only been scrapped in order to secure votes from moderate Republicans for the passage of their budget bill, akaThe Moral Disaster of Monumental Proportion Reconciliation Act. I agree with him that no Republican deserves credit for stopping ANWR drilling. Credit belongs to the voters who cared enough to lobby their representatives and the Democrats who refused to give in to the demands of big oil (and even some labor groups) all along.

But the news gets even better than the ANWR provision going down in flames. It seems that the whole stinking mess of a plan has been scrapped. From Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi by way of The Stakeholder:

"Republican leadership has announced that the vote on their immoral budget cuts has been indefinitely postponed. The reason is simple: this budget and the Republican Party do not represent the priorities of the American people, and Democrats have made that clear. Because of that, Republicans simply do not have the votes.

"The Republican budget was about increasing the deficit, cutting taxes for the wealthiest Americans at the expense of the middle-class, and hurting those who need our help most - hurricane survivors, seniors, students, and rural Americans. Democrats were united and made those issues too hot to handle for Republicans."

Though the Republicans will claim there's absolutely no connection, this has everything to do with this week's election results. The GOP is now in retreat, doing everything they can to stop the bleeding. Arrogant right wing Bush Republicanism has been repudiated. The people have had it with Karl Rove smear tactics, the rolling back of progressive gains, and the thinly veiled racism of immigrant bashing. The last thing Congressional Republicans wanted to do was support a budget bill that will confirm once and for all that they have absolutely no concern for the health and well-being of the voters.

For quite some time now, Democrats in Congress have been fighting and fighting and fighting to save important programs for Americans in need. From the minority though, it's been nearly impossible to make any serious gains. On Tuesday, Republicans finally saw a glimpse of next year's midterms and realized that they are not invincible. As a result, they pulled the budget bill. But I'm pretty sure it's too little, too late. They've already shown what their priorities are -- welfare for the wealthy at the expense of everyone else.