The Dems' Agenda
Democrats may take over the House of Representatives. So what's their plan?
They are among the warhorses of the House of Representatives. John Dingell of Michigan has been in Congress for half a century and chaired the Energy and Commerce Committee for 14 years. Henry Waxman of California has been in the House for 32 years and ran a key subcommittee for 16 years. Charles Rangel has been Harlem's congressman since 1970; John Conyers has represented Detroit since 1965.
For a dozen years, these once powerful Democrats have been in virtual exile, pushed to the back bench while Republicans ruled. But now that may change. Experts say Democrats could pick up as many as 25 seats in November and take control of the House of Representatives.
If Democrats do take over, these veterans will most likely be back to shake things up by chairing powerful committees. Their ability to push through major legislation will be limited because their majority will probably be slim, and President Bush could wield the veto pen. But many Democrats intend to push an aggressive oversight agenda that would investigate the Bush administration's conduct on everything from the war in Iraq to Hurricane Katrina and homeland security. There would be no shortage of fireworks on Capitol Hill.
Republicans have been trying to rally their base by warning that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who would most likely become speaker of the House, is too liberal. They issue the same warning about possible Democratic committee chairs like Rangel, Conyers, and Barney Frank. Some doubt the tactic will work; Democratic lobbyist Thomas Hale Boggs Jr., for one, wonders if "anybody outside of Washington knows who Rangel and Conyers are." But Republicans are pressing ahead. If Democrats take the House, they say, expect a leftist agenda of more spending, higher taxes, and maybe even an attempt at impeaching President Bush. "It's just plain scary," insists House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican.
Fissures. While Democrats have lofty ambitions-some are calling for sweeping healthcare initiatives or withdrawal from Iraq-their actual legislative plans are more modest, because a slim majority will probably force them to work across the aisle. Otherwise, "we won't be able to get anything done," says Rangel. The Democrats also have fissures of their own to worry about-like what to do about Iraq. In addition, a bloc of some 37 fiscally conservative Democrats-known as the Blue Dog Coalition-could see its membership increase after the elections as a counterweight to more-liberal Democrats' efforts on spending and trade.
But Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid are already trying to promote a vision of party unity. They say they will launch their consensus-based, six-part "New Direction for America" or "Six for '06" plan within days if they take control of the House in early January. The highlights include legislation initiatives that would increase the minimum wage, negotiate lower prices for Medicare prescription drugs, implement all the 9/11 commission recommendations, end tax breaks for oil companies, and increase federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research. "The hardest part, frankly, is limiting the priorities," says Pelosi, who would be the first female speaker.
If Democrats do take charge, the more dramatic transformation of Congress would take place in the dozen or so oversight committees. After 12 years of being in the minority, Democrats would be able to hold hearings, subpoena witnesses, and launch investigations. Henry Waxman, who is positioned to become the chair of the powerful House Government Reform Committee, says he'd focus on "waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer dollars," from the reconstruction of Iraq to homeland security and Katrina contracts. And Ike Skelton, the Missouri Democrat who would chair the House Armed Services Committee, and John Murtha, the leading Democrat on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, have called for oversight and investigations on Iraq reconstruction efforts akin to the Truman Commission that probed war profiteering during World War II. Dingell, who would probably chair the Energy and Commerce Committee, would most likely resume sending his infamous Dingell-grams, which requested detailed information from agencies on environmental and energy policies, among other things.
Republicans warn that a House Judiciary Committee chaired by Conyers would pursue impeachment of Bush, while Rangel would seek tax increases if he became chair of the Ways and Means Committee. Conyers did introduce a bill that would allow investigation of impeachable offenses by the administration, but he has since distanced himself from that position, and Pelosi insists Democrats will not pursue it. Rangel laughs at the accusation that he would raise taxes. He says instead that he would like to find ways to make sure that the alternative minimum tax, which was supposed to prevent high-income people from using special tax benefits to pay little or no taxes, does not take an increasing bite on the upper-middle-class. He says his main task as chair would be to restore bipartisanship to the committee; the current chair, Republican Bill Thomas of California, who's retiring, has been known for his dismissive treatment of Democrats.
Prepared. It's less likely that Democrats will take control of the Senate-six seats would have to turn over-but Democrats on that side of Capitol Hill are gearing up just in case. Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, who would probably chair the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, is expected to push legislation that would drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions. And Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont would chair the Judiciary Committee-which would put him in charge of confirmation hearings if a Supreme Court vacancy occurred. If Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, becomes chair, he is expected to investigate how the Bush administration used intelligence about Iraq's weapons.
But if there are opportunities for Democrats, there are dangers, too. Joseph Cooper, a political science professor at Johns Hopkins University, says that Democrats need to be careful about overreaching in their oversight-something that contributed to the downfall of House Speaker Newt Gingrich in the late 1990s when Republicans sought impeachment of President Clinton. Some oversight investigations may not have any legislative result, says Cooper, and "will just be used to turn the public against Republicans and the president, and that's a dangerous game to play."
Many Democrats acknowledge this, especially in terms of how their actions might affect their prospects in 2008. "The American public," says Rangel, "will be looking at us to see how we handle these two years in how they decide the presidential election." And if they're in charge of at least one house of Congress, Democrats won't be able to blame a "do nothing" Republican Congress for all its legislative failures.
A LIKELY LINEUP
Activist Democrats will take over key committees if the House turns over.
Energy and Commerce John Dingell (Mich.)
Government Reform Henry Waxman (Calif.)
Judiciary John Conyers (Mich.)
Ways and Means Charles Rangel (N.Y.)
Energy and Commerce Barney Frank (Mass.)
This story appears in the October 30, 2006 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.