LoungeMachine
11-14-2006, 02:18 PM
Senate Democrats Choose Leaders for Next Congress
By DAVID STOUT
Published: November 14, 2006
WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 — Senate Democratic leaders were chosen today for the next Congress, and they allowed themselves a few gibes at Republicans before pledging to work for a new spirit of bipartisan cooperation on Capitol Hill.
“We’re going to treat the minority, the Republicans, as they did not treat us,” Senator Harry Reid of Nevada said at a news conference after being picked as majority leader by the Democratic caucus. “They’ll be involved in decisions when we have legislation that passes this body.”
Mr. Reid repeated his pledge to work with President Bush, and he said he supported a vote in the current lame-duck Congress on Robert M. Gates’s nomination to succeed Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. “The sooner we can move it forward, the sooner we can get rid of Rumsfeld,” he told The Associated Press.
Mr. Reid recalled that Mr. Bush said after the election that he wanted to work with Democrats. “He said that two years ago, and it didn’t work,” Mr. Reid said.
Mr. Reid has been minority leader, and he was not opposed for elevation to majority leader in the 110th Congress, which convenes in January. Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois will continue as Democratic whip, and Senator Charles E. Schumer will remain as the Senate campaign chairman, while also taking on the title of vice chairman of the Democratic caucus.
Mr. Durbin, too, said he hoped for bipartisan progress on Capitol Hill, and a lot more good will. “We have watched the steady deterioration of comity and cooperation in the United States Congress,” he said. “Now the Democrats have a chance — even a challenge — to restore the dignity of this great American institution.”
Amid the talk of bipartisanship, there was an unmistakable eagerness to advance a Democratic agenda in the next Congress, and assertions that Republicans did not do enough for middle-class Americans while they controlled the House and the Senate.
“The middle class is being squeezed,” Mr. Reid said. “Squeezed. The rich are getting richer; the poor are getting poorer. We must do something about education. We must do something to relieve the tax burden on the middle class.”
Senator Patty Murray of Washington, chosen as caucus secretary, said the new Democratic majority would try to “make sure that our country is once again strong, and our country once again says to American families, ‘We are at your back.’ That’s the country I was raised in. That’s the country I look forward to building once again.”
Senator Debbie Stabenow, who won re-election in Michigan last week, will lead the party’s steering committee, and Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota will be chairman of the policy committee.
Senate Republicans are to pick their leaders on Wednesday, House Democrats on Thursday and House Republicans on Friday.
Mr. Reid described Mr. Schumer’s function as vice chairman of the caucus as “a utility man — he’ll be called upon to do lots of different things.” Asked if the title amounted to “a tipping of the hat” because of his work in the campaign, Mr. Reid replied simply, “Yes.”
In less than two years, Mr. Schumer will try to hold on to the Democrats’ majority in the Senate, a fact that Mr. Durbin acknowledged. “We know that a 51-vote majority is as thin as they come,” he said.
By DAVID STOUT
Published: November 14, 2006
WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 — Senate Democratic leaders were chosen today for the next Congress, and they allowed themselves a few gibes at Republicans before pledging to work for a new spirit of bipartisan cooperation on Capitol Hill.
“We’re going to treat the minority, the Republicans, as they did not treat us,” Senator Harry Reid of Nevada said at a news conference after being picked as majority leader by the Democratic caucus. “They’ll be involved in decisions when we have legislation that passes this body.”
Mr. Reid repeated his pledge to work with President Bush, and he said he supported a vote in the current lame-duck Congress on Robert M. Gates’s nomination to succeed Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. “The sooner we can move it forward, the sooner we can get rid of Rumsfeld,” he told The Associated Press.
Mr. Reid recalled that Mr. Bush said after the election that he wanted to work with Democrats. “He said that two years ago, and it didn’t work,” Mr. Reid said.
Mr. Reid has been minority leader, and he was not opposed for elevation to majority leader in the 110th Congress, which convenes in January. Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois will continue as Democratic whip, and Senator Charles E. Schumer will remain as the Senate campaign chairman, while also taking on the title of vice chairman of the Democratic caucus.
Mr. Durbin, too, said he hoped for bipartisan progress on Capitol Hill, and a lot more good will. “We have watched the steady deterioration of comity and cooperation in the United States Congress,” he said. “Now the Democrats have a chance — even a challenge — to restore the dignity of this great American institution.”
Amid the talk of bipartisanship, there was an unmistakable eagerness to advance a Democratic agenda in the next Congress, and assertions that Republicans did not do enough for middle-class Americans while they controlled the House and the Senate.
“The middle class is being squeezed,” Mr. Reid said. “Squeezed. The rich are getting richer; the poor are getting poorer. We must do something about education. We must do something to relieve the tax burden on the middle class.”
Senator Patty Murray of Washington, chosen as caucus secretary, said the new Democratic majority would try to “make sure that our country is once again strong, and our country once again says to American families, ‘We are at your back.’ That’s the country I was raised in. That’s the country I look forward to building once again.”
Senator Debbie Stabenow, who won re-election in Michigan last week, will lead the party’s steering committee, and Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota will be chairman of the policy committee.
Senate Republicans are to pick their leaders on Wednesday, House Democrats on Thursday and House Republicans on Friday.
Mr. Reid described Mr. Schumer’s function as vice chairman of the caucus as “a utility man — he’ll be called upon to do lots of different things.” Asked if the title amounted to “a tipping of the hat” because of his work in the campaign, Mr. Reid replied simply, “Yes.”
In less than two years, Mr. Schumer will try to hold on to the Democrats’ majority in the Senate, a fact that Mr. Durbin acknowledged. “We know that a 51-vote majority is as thin as they come,” he said.