| Who’ll Be in Charge of the new House and Senate |
| Friday, November 10, 2006 |
EVOTE.COM > The EVOTE.COM Guide to the 110th Congress In less than two months, Democrats will take control of the House and Senate, and begin fighting over the spoils of war. EVOTE.COM surveys the plum spots in the new leadership, and provides a guide to who’ll be in charge of what, and the changes you can expect in Congress.
Leadership
PelosiYes, Nancy will become the first woman speaker, and by default, the most powerful female politician in the United States (perhaps temporarily, if Hillary Clinton has her way).
Pelosi turned in a lack-luster performance as Minority Leader – but don’t be deceived by this. Her strengths don’t center around coalition building, or legislative maneuvering – rather she’s more direct (some would say, less sophisticated) deal-maker. That worked to her disadantage when she led a party in the minority, but that may work better for her in the majority.
She's low on the charisma side, too – her prickly personality tends to keep potential partners at a distance, but that may also work for her as the new Speaker – the White House isn’t likely to be very supportive.
The bottom line is that she is likely to be more figurehead than leader, given the strong committee chairmen who will be running Congress.
Senate Majority Leader[Harry Reid]
Late in the election season Harry came under some minor ethics concerns over a land deal in Nevada, but that won't stop him from becoming Senate Majority Leader; if anything, it provides a certain amount of continuity and comfort knowing that things won't be that different just because control has changed hands. Reid's Mormon background is something new in the leadership position, and being from Nevada, his personal pet project is support of the gambling industry.
Extremely softspoken, Reid gives the term "low-key" new meaning, although his quiet demeanor does not necessarily mean that he's a pushover. In his own words, "I always would rather dance than fight, but I know how to fight."
It will be interesting to see how his nonconfrontational style plays against the new Minority Leader, pit-bullish Mitch McConnell (and we wonder whether Mitch's pact with the devil neglected to specify that the GOP was supposed to be in the majority when Mitch ascended to the top GOP spot). Though McConnell will disagree, the two men are more suited to their roles, with Reid more of a concensus builder, as suits the Majority Leader, and stronger-personalitied McConnell in the opposition role.
But Reid will have limited lattitude, or for that matter, desire, to build concensus. The Democrats will not see an advantage to working with either a President of monumental lame-duck proportions or the defeated Republicans until they've had an opportunity to flex their "mandate" - whatever that might be.
Reps. John Murtha of Pennsylvania and Steny Hoyer of Maryland have both campaigned for the majority leader's office.
Hoyer, currently the minority whip and more centrist than Pelosi, has been stumping for other Democrats this election season, perhaps helping him lock up support in the caucus. But Murtha is closer to Pelosi, and we’d have to give the nod to him. This is a close one, though, and could go either way.
It had looked like there would be a two-way battle for majority whip between Reps. James Clyburn of South Carolina and Rahm Emanuel of Illinois. Clyburn is the Democrat's popular caucus chairman, but Emanuel, as head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, is the guy who really delivered the Democratic majority in Congress. Emanuel's high intensity personality, however, has often grated on his fellow members, and perhaps he was aware that his support was soft, because he announced that he would run for Clyburn's caucus chairmanship instead, making Clyburn the highest ranking African-American in the House.
Senate Majority Whip[Dick Durbin]Dick Durbin's got a reputation as an in-fighter, despite his often less than charismatic front to the public. His role won't be markedly different with the change in power except that now he gets to be a lot more smug when he talks to his colleagues across the aisle.
Committee Chairs
[David Obey]The Appropriations Committee, in charge of the purse strings, and therefore, the most powerful and influential committee on the Hill, is currently run by Jerry Lewis (R-CA) (and no, not that Jerry Lewis).
Lewis is actually already in trouble – he’s being investigated by the the U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles because of an influence-peddling accusation.
In the new Congress, he’ll be replaced by Rep. David Obey (D-WI).
Obey, who was briefly chairman of the committee once before when Democrats were in power, is an old-fashioned labor Democrat with strong interest in education and health-research funding.
He is perhaps one of the most bought-and-paid-for Democrats in the employ of Teacher’s Unions, and you can expect that the gravy train will leave the station the minute that David Obey takes over the gavel.
Also, because of this district (he’s a certified cheese-head), dairy farmers will become “gifted” with Federal largesse at a newly rapid rate.
Most importantly, though, Obey will use his powerful position to throttle down on funding for White House pet projects and Bush’s own pork-laden agenda – expect to see some big fights over money, who gets it, and how it gets spent. And some of those fights will likely spill over into military and potentially foreign policy areas, as well.
Senate Appropriations Committee[Robert Byrd]
Appropriations is the role that Robert Byrd was meant to play. Byrd, the "Big Daddy" of pork-barrel appropriations and the single reason that West Virginia has an economy today, will be chairing the appropriations committee for the third time in his career, having headed it up from 1989-1994 and again in 2001.
Byrd, 88, is that curious mix of Southern Democrat, a throwback to the kind of Tip O'Neill tax-and-spend liberal that held sway in the 80's with a segregationist history that makes modern Democrats cringe. Under him, anticipate a rash of municipal projects not only for West Virginia but elsewhere. It'll be hard for fellow Democrats to convincingly take the role as budget balancers (at least by cutting spending) with Byrd on the job.
[Charles Rangel]
Yes, that raspy voice will be back.
Charlie Rangel doesn’t shy away from the “L” word – he’s a liberal, and damn proud of it. Back in the driver’s seat, you can expect the he Ways and Means Committee, where all tax bills originate, to suddenly turn into a cold-hearted and desolate place for anyone with an income over $80,000 a year.
Ways and Means seems to attract prickly personalities, though, and Bill Thomas (R-CA), the current chairman, wasn’t known for his even-temperedness or calm, either. Thomas, however, clearly has never met a deduction or tax cut he didn’t like, and you can expect those days to end.
Rangel will focus on the out-of-control Federal deficit… and while it hardly means across-the-board tax increases, it does mean that Bush will have a hard time finding more money to prop up the crumbling Iraqi government or to expand any foreign policy or military initiatives.S
enate Finance Committee[Max Baucus]
The wealthy might get a little more love in the senate. As Democrats go, Baucus tends toward the conservative (he represents Montana, after all), especially with regards to fiscal matters. Democrats have been promising to reinstate pay-as-you-go budget and financing model and he'll be in a position to help push that forward.
Baucus supported Bush's tax cut, but he's been highly critical of the administration's social security plans.
House Armed Services Committee
[Ike Skelton]
Skelton, a 30 year man in the House, may not be a household name, but he'll be the mouthpiece for the Democrats' new determination to implement oversight over the administration's handling of the war in Iraq. He's already stated that under him the committee will focus on wasteful spending in the war.
Skelton comes from a family of military men, and he's a military history buff himself. He's moderate, even slightly conservative, with respect to military matters, but recently he's called for a plan for withdrawal for American troops (which doesn't exactly put him on the leading edge.)
Senate Armed Services Committee[Carl Levin]
The liberal Michigan Democrat has been an outspoken critic of the Bush administration and Donald Rumsfeld, but he's already said that he's prepared to move forward on the confirmation of Robert Gates as the new Secretary of Defense, assuming that the committee "gets all the information it needs."
Levin will push for a planned withdrawal from Iraq - something that the President and the Republicans will support in the hopes of putting this issue to bed before 2008, but the two sides will bicker about the details to make it look like they're disagreeing.
House Financial Services Committee
[Barney Frank]
Of all the committees, this one might not change much. The Financial Services Committee, oversees the financial services industry (including securities and banking), and, oddly, housing.
It is currently headed by Michael Oxley (R-OH) of Sarbanes-Oxley fame – which means that the financial services industry and most large-company boards aren’t likely to shed a tear for the departing Michael Oxley.
Expect Frank to focus on affordable housing initiatives, the usual grab-bag of “corporate board oversight”, and probably also expect some attempt at headline-grabbing with an “investigation” into the hedge fund industry.
Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee
[Chris Dodd]
Dodd has been making noises about a 2008 presidential run, and a high profile committee chairmanship may be a blessing or a curse in that regard, but he'll take it anyway (and give up the much less sexy Rules and Administration chairmanship that he's in line for). Of course, if Dodd actually thinks he's got a shot at the nomination it might indicate that the next chair of the Senate banking committee may be delusional, but that's a neither here nor there.
Dodd's got a reputation as a pragmatist, and Connecticut is home to a lot of financial services companies. He's already stated that he plans to change the current focus of the committee to tackling ways to prevent the outsourcing of militarily sensitive jobs and technologies out of the country and preventing terrorists from using the U.S. financial system.
House Energy and Commerce Committee
[John Dingell or Henry Waxman]
The Energy and Commerce Committee's jurisdiction basically covers “everything else” – energy, national and international commerce telecommunications, consumer protection, food and drug safety, public health, air quality and environmental health.
Yes, it’s a pork barrel buffet of the first order.
The committee's current chairman is Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, who, as might be expected, focused on the “energy” art of the committee’s brief.
Rep. John Dingell of Michigan, who has spent more than 50 years in the House and was chairman before the 1994 Republican sweep, is the odds-on favorite to win this committee plum, and will focus on the “commerce” part of the committee’s purview.
He’s a huge supporter of organized labor and the auto industy, and has long pushed for national health insurance.
Dingell, though, could be challenged by another powerful Democrat, Rep. Henry Waxman of California, a former subcommittee chairman and current committee member.
As ranking member of the Government Reform Committee, the House's main investigative committee, Waxman has proven to have been the biggest gadfly (and sometimes, ambulance chaser) that Congress has had in the last decade.
House Judiciary Committee
[John Conyers, Jr.]
The Judiciary Committee is also a grab bag of oversight, but focuses mainly on administering the court system and law enforcement – it does also cover areas like espionage and counterfeiting.
The current chairman, James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, shepherded the House immigration bill, focusing on enforcement and bucking the White House, which has pushed for a more comprehensive approach that would establish a guest worker program.
John Conyers of Michigan, the committee's ranking Democrat, is poised to take over, and with Democrats in control of the House, broader immigration legislation is likely to clear Congress. Regardless, this committee is likely to continue the push to close and regulate US borders to a greater extent.
Senate Judiciary Committee
[Patrick Leahy]
The Vermont senator is an outspoken critic of the Bush administration and a well known liberal voice in the senate. Fortunately for Bush, his major Supreme Court nominations are out of the way, or Leahy might have provided insurmountable trouble for his choices. Democrats can breathe a sigh of relief though that the last two years of the Bush administration will not be spent packing conservative judges on federal courts. With Leahy at the helm, it is unlikely that any judicial appointments are going to pass muster. |
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