Congress has returned to
Washington, DC for a “lame duck session” in the wake of midterm
elections that saw Democratic takeovers of the House and Senate.
While the gavels officially switch hands in early January,
changes were immediately felt in the nation’s capital, most
notably with President Bush replacing Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld with nominee Robert Gates, formerly Director of
the CIA.
2006 ELECTIONS
2006 was a big year for the Democratic Party as they picked up
at least 29 seats in the House (there is one runoff set for
mid-December in District 23 of Texas), 6 seats in the Senate,
and important governors’ seats in New York, Massachusetts,
Maryland and Ohio among others.
LAME DUCK SESSION OF CONGRESS
With Democrats slated to assume control of the House and Senate
it is believed that the Republican leadership will not attempt
to pass any major bills in the lame duck session. Instead it is
believed that Republican leadership will opt for short term
Continuing Resolutions that will finance the federal government
at current levels for a brief period of time, possibly February
or March of 2007 at which time Democrats then in control will
have responsibility for passing more permanent legislation.
HOUSE – NEW LEADERSHIP
Democrat Nancy Pelosi (CA-08) will become the first female
Speaker of the House in US History in January 2007. Pelosi will
be second in the line of Presidential Succession after the Vice
President, making her the highest ranking woman in American
history. Pelosi is also the first Italian American Speaker. On
Pelosi’s leadership team will be Majority Leader Steny Hoyer
(MD-05) and Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (SC-06). Republicans in
the House voted to keep their leadership team with John Boehner
(OH-08) moving from Majority Leader to Minority Leader and Roy
Blunt (MO-07) moving from Majority Whip to Minority Whip.
SENATE – OLD AND NEW LEADERSHIP
By a one seat margin Democrat will take control in January of
the Senate 51-49 which includes 2 independents who will organize
with the Democrats – Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Bernie
Sanders of Vermont. Harry Reid of Nevada will be the new
Majority Leader and Dick Durbin of Illinois will be the new
Majority Whip. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky will be the new
Minority Leader and Trent
Lott of Mississippi, formerly Majority Leader until forced to
resign from that post a few years ago, returns to Republican
leadership as Minority Whip.
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M.E.B.A. LEGISLATIVE PAGE
