CQ Politics
Published: 01-07-09
Fortified by wider House and Senate majorities and the prospect of working in tandem with a new president who shares their legislative goals congressional Democrats assembled Tuesday to begin the 111th Congress.
In the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California the first woman to hold the post since its advent in 1789 was re-elected easily. Democrats made a net gain of 21 seats in the Nov. 4 elections and now hold 256 seats to 178 for the Republicans with one vacancy — the seat left open by Rahm Emanuel D-Ill. who will serve as President-elect Barack Obama ’s White House chief of staff.
“We will hit the ground running” Pelosi vowed. Congressional leaders of both parties met with Obama on Monday to discuss his top priority a giant economic recovery package of tax cuts and new spending.
The Senate convened at noon with its membership still unsettled. Legal challenges surrounding the appointment of Democrat Roland W. Burris of Illinois and apparent election of Democrat Al Franken of Minnesota could keep those two seats vacant for weeks. Three other Democratic senators will soon be resigning to join the Obama administration — Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware Secretary of State-designate Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Interior Secretary-designate Ken Salazar of Colorado.
The Democrats promise quick action on Obama’s plan for a massive economic stimulus package but they now concede they are unlikely to be get it to him by Inauguration Day on Jan. 20 mainly because of the package’s sheer enormity and complications.
