Congress Convenes Today, Facing Budget Deficit, Other Old Problems

A new Congress convenes today, awaiting a new President to deal with some of the same old problems that plagued its predecessors, including a massive federal budget deficit that could threaten the nation’s economic health.

The Senate and House were called into ceremonial sessions to swear in new members and install Democratic leaders, who said that they expect more cooperation from President-elect George Bush than the last Congress had from departing President Reagan.

But Bush--who as vice president will have the unusual duty Wednesday of announcing to the 101st Congress his own election to the White House by the Electoral College--may be on a collision course with Capitol Hill over ways to reduce a budget deficit estimated at $150 billion in the coming year.

Reagan will initiate the 1989 debate on the issue on Jan. 9 by sending Congress his final budget--which Bush is expected to modify shortly after taking office.

The budget plans must attempt to lower red-ink spending to $100 billion by October, 1990, to avoid automatic, across-the-board spending cuts mandated by the Gramm-Rudman budget law.

New Chairmen of Key Panels

Bush will be dealing with new chairmen of the Senate and House budget committees--Sen. Jim Sasser (D-Tenn.) and Rep. Leon E. Panetta (D-Monterey)--in his struggle to bring the deficit down without violating his campaign pledge of “no new taxes.” Many Democrats in Congress believe it cannot be done without making unacceptable spending reductions and that tax increases are necessary.

Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, already has advocated an increase of 10 or 15 cents a gallon in the federal gasoline tax to ease the budget crisis.

Without any reduction of the deficit, many economists believe, interest rates will rise and threaten the continuation of the seven-year economic expansion.

Other controversial issues include a 50% pay raise for members of Congress, a bankruptcy crisis in the savings and loan industry, planned closing of dozens of military bases, obsolescence of nuclear weapons production plants and the thorny problems of ethics in government and campaign finance reform.

May Re-Examine Benefits

In addition, a strong backlash by senior citizens against surtaxes in a new Medicare law to provide insurance against catastrophic health care costs may force Congress to reconsider both the benefits it provided and the financing for them.

Advocates of the equal rights amendment have indicated that they will reintroduce that controversial legislation on the first day of the new session.

In addition, many lawmakers want to revive some bills vetoed by Reagan in the waning days of the last Congress, including legislation to deal with child pornography on television and a measure that attempts to regulate the “revolving door” into lobbying jobs for newly departed government officials or members of Congress and their top aides.

In addition, House Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.) remains under investigation by the House Ethics Committee on charges of misusing his office and campaign funds. Although he denies any wrongdoing, House Republican adversaries have indicated that they will make enforcement of ethics rules a major issue in the new session.

Impact of New Leadership

In the Senate, the advent of Sen. George J. Mitchell of Maine as the new Democratic leader is expected to place more emphasis on environmental legislation, including renewal of the Clean Air Act, which was stymied when coal-state Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W. Va.) held the leadership post.

As usual when there is a change of administrations, Congress will get off to a slow start after Bush and his vice president, Dan Quayle, take their oaths of office in the Jan. 20 inaugural ceremonies. For example, the lawmakers will take a two-week break after their two-day work period this week.

In the Senate, major committees will take several weeks to conduct hearings and vote on confirmation of Bush’s nominations of Cabinet secretaries before starting work on legislation. The new President is expected to spell out his program in an address to a joint session of Congress in the first week or two after his swearing-in.

The makeup of the House and Senate will be pretty much the same as it was in the 100th Congress, which adjourned Oct. 21. The Senate will welcome 11 freshmen, including Rep. Dan Coats (R-Ind.), who was appointed to finish the last two years of Quayle’s unexpired Senate term. Democrats will have a 55-45 majority, compared to 54 to 46 in the previous year.

Democrats’ Lead in House

In the House, Democrats picked up three seats in the November election to gain a 260-175 advantage. However, Coats’ elevation to the Senate and the death of Rep. Bill Nichols (D-Ala.) last month will change the opening-day margin to 259 to 174, with two vacancies.

Wright, in outlining his own agenda at a meeting of the Democratic caucus last month, said he expected the House to pass a strengthened Clean Air Act, as well as legislation to prevent unlimited takeovers and mergers of the largest corporations and an election reform law that would include uniform poll-closing hours across the nation in presidential election years.

Residents of California and other Western states have contended that television network projections of presidential winners on the basis of early returns from the East and Midwest have sharply lowered voter turnout in the West.