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Democrats to pursue aggressive agenda

WASHINGTON: Flush with victory built on incursions in the South and West, congressional Democratic leaders promised to use their new power to join President-elect Barack Obama in pursuing an aggressive agenda that puts top priority on the economy, health care, energy and ending the Iraq war.

By reaching deep into traditionally Republican turf, the Democrats in Tuesday’s elections expanded their majorities in both the House and the Senate. They picked up at least five Senate seats, in Colorado, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina and Virginia. And they picked up at least 19 House seats, with new Democrats coming from Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina and Virginia.

The full extent of the new Democratic majorities remained unknown, with tight Senate races still undecided in Alaska, Minnesota and Oregon, and a runoff scheduled on December 2 in Georgia. At least six House races remained too close to call.

Still, the promise of strong control of Congress also left Democratic leaders grappling with challenges of balancing a wider spectrum of views within their own party while confronting a diminished House Republican conference now decidedly more conservative.

The exuberance of Tuesday night’s victories was also tempered by unease over the public’s high expectations for a party in control of both Congress and the White House amid economic turmoil, two wars overseas and a yawning budget gap.

On the day after the election, leadership battles were breaking out across Capitol Hill as lawmakers contemplated the prospects of new power and opportunity. The quick start to the skirmishing signalled that some of the more bitter fights in the next Congress could be internal battles among Democrats.

For instance, Democratic aides said that Representative Henry A. Waxman was expected to challenge Representative John D. Dingell, the longest-serving House Democrat, for chairmanship of the Energy and Commerce Committee. Energy issues are expected to be a major focus of the Obama administration.

And before the week is out, Democrats could try to oust Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, the independent who campaigned for John McCain, from the chairmanship of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who spoke with Mr. Obama by phone on Wednesday, said they had made plans to discuss coordinated efforts for the transition and the new Congress, but that a more ambitious agenda would unfold next year.

“Our priorities have tracked the Obama campaign priorities for a very long time,” said Ms. Pelosi at a news conference, where she cited the economy, health care, energy and the Iraq war as topping the agenda.

She said Democrats were talking with the Bush White House about a potential $61 billion economic stimulus that could be approved in a lame-duck session.

But Ms. Pelosi said Democrats could open the 111th Congress in January with efforts to adopt measures blocked by President Bush, including ones to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program and embryonic stem cell research. She said Democrats had no choice but to chart a centrist course. “The country must be governed from the middle,” she said.

Though Democrats fell short of their goal of a 60-vote Senate majority, which would have given them the power to break filibusters,Ms. Pelosi said it would be far easier to get Republican support for Democratic bills with Mr. Bush out of office. She said Republicans often blocked bills to protect the President.

House and Senate Democrats said they believed the Obama administration and congressional Democrats could mesh in a way that Capitol Hill Democrats and the Carter and Clinton administrations could not. As Senators, Mr. Obama and Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr., built strong relationships on Capitol Hill.

Republicans are warning that Mr. Obama, a relatively junior lawmaker, will be outmanoeuvred by more experienced operators on Capitol Hill, a proposition Democrats dismissed, noting Mr. Obama would benefit from Mr. Biden’s counsel. — New York Times News Service

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