WASHINGTON (AP) – Ethics reform, a higher minimum wage and more money for stem cell research are the top items on the Senate agenda next year, the incoming Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, said Tuesday in an interview with The Associated Press.

Mr. Reid said he will tackle those priorities after cleaning up the “financial mess” that the outgoing Republican leadership has left. He was referring to nine long overdue appropriations bills covering 13 Cabinet departments for the budget year that began Oct. 1.

“They’re just leaving town, it appears,” Mr. Reid said from his office in the Capitol. “We hope that’s not the case, but it appears that’s what they are going to do. And so we’re going to have to find a way to fund the government for the next year.”

The must-pass legislation totals more than $460 billion and promises to divert time and energy from other items on the Democratic agenda.

Mr. Reid also said he’s doing away with the “do-nothing Congress” that Democrats campaigned against this year as they ousted the Republican majority in both chambers of Congress. The Nevada Democrat, who is wrapping up his final days as Senate minority leader, will take control of the Senate agenda when the new Congress takes the oath of office in January.

“We’re going to put in some hours here that haven’t been put in in a long time,” Mr. Reid said. That means “being here more days in the week and we start off this year with seven weeks without a break. That hasn’t been done in many, many years here.”

Mr. Reid said he hopes that President Bush is willing to work with the Democratic congressional leadership, but the early signs have not been encouraging. He said the White House has not reached out to him since his meeting with Mr. Bush in the Oval Office on Nov. 10. “Sorry to say,” Mr. Reid said.