WASHINGTON (PAI) - The Republican-run 109th Congress has yet to stagger to a conclusion - it returns for another lame-duck session in early December. But incoming Democratic lawmakers have already laid out an ambitious legislative agenda for the coming Democratic-run Congress.

It includes passage of the Employee Free Choice Act and extending Medicare to all.

Those plans will come after the Democratic Congress pushes through its first priority, raising the federal minimum wage for the first time in a decade. Dems want to increase the minimum wage from its present $5.15 an hour in three steps in just over two years, to $7.25.

"We're not rewarding work fairly anymore, and working families are falling behind," said Senate Labor Committee Chairman Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) in presenting his agenda for the panel just after the Democrats won enough Senate seats Nov. 7 to control the chamber 51-49.

"A minimum wage worker who works 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year still makes just $10,700 a year - $6,000 below the poverty line for a family of three," Kennedy said. "In this era of skyrocketing costs, these hardworking Americans are forced to make impossible choices - between paying the rent or buying food, between paying for gas or paying the doctor. Americans understand fairness, and they know this is unfair."

Following are some other priorities of Dems and their allies in organized labor, who have a wish list in place, but face a potential Bush veto on any of their pet projects.

• Organized labor has long desired passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, which would help level the playing field between workers and management. EFCA would outlaw employer-run "captive audience" meetings during organizing drives, institute simpler card-check rules to ease union recognition, and increase labor law-breaking penalties and mandate first-contract arbitration, among other moves.
• Kennedy also mentioned extending the Family and Medical Leave Act by creating paid leave. FMLA now offers eligible workers only 12 weeks of unpaid leave. Kennedy and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) have drafted legislation to give seven days of paid sick leave to all workers in companies with at least 15 employees.
• Because of the massive expense, the concept of extending universal health care for all will be very controversial. But with one in seven Americans uninsured, many see a broken system that needs massive overhaul.
• "The most straightforward way to see that every American has affordable, quality health care is to extend Medicare to all citizens," Kennedy said, citing the "Medicare for All" act he wrote with Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.). Dingell will chair the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has some power over health legislation. "This proposal should be the starting point for discussions on achieving universal coverage."
• Meanwhile, at least 200 union groups, including locals, retiree groups, central labor councils and 15 state federations, back a similar Medicare-based government-run single-payer health care bill, HR 676, drafted by Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) will take over the House Ways and Means Committee, the key panel that handles "fast track," anti-worker trade treaties, Social Security, taxes and Medicare, among other issues. Moneyweb said Rangel cites 'ending tax shelters for companies that move American jobs overseas' as one of his main objectives. He is also expected to complicate the White House's efforts to further liberalize trade by demanding strong protections for labor in any trade deals." Rangel pledged Dems would try to extend expiring tax deductions that benefit middle-income people, such as the one 3.3 million teachers took last year for buying school supplies for their students and classrooms.
• New Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) declared any Social Security privatization plan by GOP President George W. Bush dead.

(Mark Gruenberg, PAI Staff Writer)