Bush Gets Credit, Clout for Leading GOP Sweep

WASHINGTON -- Republicans on Wednesday moved to consolidate their power in Congress, preparing to take over leadership of the Senate and to advance President Bush’s long-stalled legislative and judicial agenda.

“Let’s roll!” said Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), the expected majority leader in the GOP-controlled Senate, who was on the phone at 7 a.m. with President Bush, one of a series of conversations among Republican leaders throughout the day.

Republicans and Democrats alike agreed that the GOP’s showing in Tuesday’s congressional elections was a vote of confidence in Bush, who campaigned feverishly on his party’s behalf. But Bush himself avoided public statements to avoid seeming to gloat, aides said.

Through a spokesman, Bush said the message of the election was that voters wanted to end the gridlock in Washington. He has sought to reorganize homeland security programs, cut taxes and get more conservative judges on the federal bench.

“The credit goes to the candidates and to those who focused on changing the tone, people who want to work together to get things done,” Bush was quoted as saying by White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer

In the House, the GOP added at least five seats to its slim majority -- an unexpectedly big gain for a midterm election, when the president’s party almost always loses seats in that chamber.

That set off a round of finger pointing and introspection among dismayed Democrats. Adding to the turmoil, House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) has decided to step down as party leader. He is expected to pursue plans to run for president.

In the wake of Tuesday’s vote, some disgruntled Democrats had called for his resignation as leader.

In the Senate, the GOP’s net gain of two seats so far will give them 51 in the 100-member chamber when the next Congress convenes in January. Going into Tuesday’s vote, Democrats controlled the Senate by a single seat.

Upon assuming the majority, Republicans will have the power to set the Senate’s legislative agenda, move Bush’s judicial and Cabinet nominations to a vote and take over chairmanships of legislative committees.

And with the entire legislative branch as well as the White House controlled by the Republicans, the GOP inherits a new burden of responsibility for addressing the nation’s problems. It will now be harder for the party leaders to blame Senate Democrats for blocking the president’s agenda, as they did relentlessly during the 2002 campaign.

“There’s a little bit of trepidation,” said a top House GOP leadership aide. “Now that we control all the levers, the onus is on us.”

Some Republicans already are concerned that the high expectations of enhanced GOP power are going to be hard to meet, especially with such a narrow majority in the notoriously balky Senate.

“The Senate was designed by our forefathers to be very slow and difficult to move,” said Lott. “And, boy, they succeeded.”

The final makeup of both the new House and Senate was still somewhat unsettled Wednesday. Two House races remained undecided; pending those results, the chamber’s breakdown will be 228 Republicans, 204 Democrats and one Independent.

Along with 51 Republicans, the new Senate apparently will include at least 47 Democrats and one independent. The remaining seat will be decided in a Dec. 7 runoff in Louisiana. Democratic incumbent Mary Landrieu led a pack of challengers in Tuesday’s results but she failed to garner 50% of the vote, forcing the runoff.

There also is some uncertainty over the outcome of South Dakota’s Senate race. Although Democratic incumbent Tim Johnson on Wednesday declared victory, his roughly 500-vote win over Republican John R. Thune may be subject to a recount.

Many Democrats on Wednesday attributed their setbacks to the difficulties of vying with the political clout Bush has gained since he launched a war on terrorism following the Sept. 11 attacks on America last year. The Democrats also noted that Bush threw his prestige and vast fund-raising abilities into shoring up GOP candidates -- many of whom were running in states and districts that he carried in 2000.

“Ultimately, we could not compete with the power of the bully pulpit and a wartime president,” said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), chairwoman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

“Now Republicans will have to deliver on the issues on which they campaigned.”

Republicans argued that their gains were also a tribute to the Democrats’ lack of a compelling alternative to Bush’s agenda and their record of blocking Bush initiatives in the Senate.

“The American people have indicated that they want the Congress

The GOP’s majority margin in Congress is still quite narrow. But many on Capitol Hill believe the party will be in a stronger position to push its agenda than it was in the first months after the 2000 election, when it also controlled the White House, Senate and House. Republicans lost their Senate majority in mid-2001 when Sen. James M. Jeffords of Vermont left the GOP to become an independent and support Democrats for the chamber’s leadership posts.

Since Jeffords’ defection, the Sept. 11 attacks and Bush’s response have transformed him from a president who took office under disputed circumstances to a popular leader.

The result, said a Senate GOP advisor, is that the GOP’s agenda in Congress will be guided more than ever by Bush.

“The great truth from [Tuesday’s] election is that the president is the power in the Republican Party,” said the advisor.

Republicans may get their first taste of majority control later this month, as the outgoing Congress meets in a lame-duck session.

Although most new members elected Tuesday will not take office until early January, Republican Jim Talent of Missouri will be sworn in to the Senate as soon as his election is certified by state officials.

Talent on Tuesday defeated Democratic incumbent Jean Carnahan, who was appointed to temporarily fill the remainder of a six-year term in 2000.

When Talent takes office, that will give Republicans 50 senators in the current Congress -- giving control to the GOP because Vice President Dick Cheney has the power to break a Senate tie. However, it may take two weeks for Talent’s election to be certified, meaning Democrats would still control the lame-duck session when it convenes next week.

Whenever Republicans take control, Fleischer said Bush wants GOP lawmakers to push several initiatives that have been stalled by Democrats.

These include his proposal to create a Department of Homeland Security, his plan to give a bigger role to faith-based institutions in providing social services, new energy legislation that would emphasize domestic production and making permanent the 10-year tax cut Congress passed last year.

GOP control of Senate committees will give his agenda a key boost.

For example, the Judiciary Committee -- which under the chairmanship of liberal Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) has blocked some of Bush’s nominees to the federal bench -- will be headed by conservative Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah).

However, the GOP’s slim majority will not be enough to turn the Senate into a rubber stamp for Bush’s initiatives.

That’s because the chamber’s rules require 60 votes to cut off delaying tactics, such as filibusters. So Republicans will need some Democratic support to move major bills.

“It would be a huge mistake not to proceed in a bipartisan way because [Republicans] just now have a bare majority,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).

A good illustration of the extent and limits of the GOP’s power in the Senate is the outlook for energy legislation, stalled for months in a House-Senate conference committee.

David Nemtzow, president of the Alliance to Save Energy, a bipartisan coalition of business, consumer and environmental leaders, said Tuesday’s results should give new life to some pro-production provisions the White House has sought.

But one of Bush’s favorite energy initiatives -- drilling in a portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge -- is still likely to face a Democratic filibuster that would require 60 votes to defeat.

Also, at least one of the newly elected GOP senators, Norm Coleman of Minnesota, has come out against Arctic drilling.

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Committee chair changes

With Republicans taking control of the Senate, here is a tentative list of senators in line to take over committee chairmanships from Democrats in the new Congress:

Committee chair changes

*--* Committee Possible Chairman Former Chairman Appropriations Ted Stevens, Alaska Robert C. Byrd, W. Va Budget Don Nickles, Okla Kent Conrad, N.D Finance Charles Grassley, Iowa Max Baucus, Mont Armed Services John W. Warner, Va Carl Levin, Mich Foreign Relations Richard G. Lugar, Ind Joseph R. Biden Jr., Del Agriculture Thad Cochran, Miss Tom Harkin, Iowa Banking, Housing Richard C. Shelby, Ala Paul S. Sarbanes, and Urban Affairs Md Commerce, Science John McCain, Ariz Ernest F. and Transportation Hollings, S.C Energy and Natural Pete V. Domenici, N.M Jeff Bingaman, N.M Resources Environment and James M. Inhofe, Okla James M. Public Works Jeffords*, Vt Government Affairs Susan Collins, Maine Joseph Lieberman, Conn Judiciary Orrin G. Hatch, Utah Patrick J. Leahy, Vt Health, Education, Judd Gregg, N.H Edward M. Labor and Pensions Kennedy, Mass Indian Affairs Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Colo Daniel K. Inouye, Hawaii Intelligence Pat Roberts, Kan Bob Graham, Fla Rules and Mitch McConnell, Ky Christopher J. Administration Dodd, Conn Small Business Christopher S. Bond, Mo John F. Kerry, Mass Veterans Affairs Arlen Specter, Pa John D. ‘Jay’ Rockefeller IV, W. Va

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* Jeffords is an independent but has voted with the Democrats.