House speaker gives a vow of bipartisanship
WASHINGTON - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi yesterday pledged that the Democratic-controlled Congress would take a bipartisan approach in working with the incoming Obama administration, saying Democrats need to "govern from the middle" to accomplish an ambitious agenda on the economy, energy independence, and healthcare.
The California Democrat made clear that her party, which significantly expanded its majorities in both chambers of Congress in Tuesday's elections, would pursue legislation long stalled by the Bush administration but supported by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, such as expanded children's healthcare and stem cell research.
Broader goals, such as healthcare reform, will also be on the table, although those initiatives will be long-term and possibly limited by budget constraints, she said.
Pelosi met with reporters as President-elect Barack Obama huddled with key advisers in Chicago and chose as his chief of staff a fellow Democratic member of Congress, Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois. Obama also named a transition team that included John Podesta, who served as chief of staff under President Clinton.
Pelosi, in marked contrast to the assertive statements made by Republicans when the GOP won control of Congress and the White House in 2000, downplayed suggestions of a commanding mandate, saying Democrats were eager to work with the minority party.
"Here's the thing: The country must be governed from the middle. A country must be governed from the middle. Now, I say that being a proud progressive Democrat in the Congress of the United States and as speaker of the House," Pelosi said, noting that she considered Democratic initiatives such as increasing the minimum wage as bipartisan issues.
"The point is, you have to bring people together to reach consensus on solutions that are sustainable and acceptable to the American people."
Pelosi is still pushing for a multibillion-dollar stimulus package to spur the faltering economy, and wants to bring the House back for a lame-duck session before Thanksgiving to pass it.
But the White House remains opposed to the idea, and House aides said there was no point bringing congressmen back to Washington for a measure that would not win Bush's signature.
After the occasionally ugly campaigns for the White House, Senate, and House, leaders in both parties yesterday spoke of bipartisanship and conciliation. President Bush promised complete cooperation with Obama's transition team and called the Illinois senator's election "a triumph of the American story, a testament to hard work, optimism, and faith in the enduring promise of our nation."
Senate Republicans, disappointed at the loss of at least five seats but privately relieved they had not lost more, congratulated Obama and called for a bipartisan approach to governing.
"The Republican leadership stands ready to hear his ideas for implementing his campaign promises of cutting taxes, increasing energy security, reducing spending, and easing the burden of an immense and growing national debt. On these and other bipartisan issues, he will find cooperation in the Senate," said Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican who survived a serious challenge to his own Senate seat Tuesday night.
Some House Republicans have warned that Democrats will push through a liberal agenda not shared by a majority of the American public.
But political specialists say Democrats - aware of the dramatic downfall of the GOP in the past few years - need to be careful not to overreach or bully the opposition.
Obama's selection of Emanuel as chief of staff appeared aimed at keeping a close relationship with Congress. Emanuel, an amateur ballet dancer who worked in the Clinton White House before being elected to Congress, is known for his hard-driving political skills and well-honed vote-counting ability.
"Obviously, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton both had a bit of a rough road in their first years," said Representative Richard Neal, a Springfield Democrat who is good friends with Emanuel. "Much of it could be ascribed to the fact that they had rocky relationships with members of their own party" on Capitol Hill.
"That will not happen with Rahm Emanuel," Neal said. "I also think that presidential hubris caused us trouble in 1992, and it cost the Republicans the majority in two successive election cycles. He will not let that happen, either."
Party officials yesterday were still waiting to learn how big the Democrats' gains were in Congress. Democrats captured 19 House seats, and were still awaiting results in nine close contests. New Democratic members include upstate New Yorker Dan Maffei, a former press secretary to House Ways and Means Committee chairman Charlie Rangel, Democrat of New York, as well as Jim Himes, a former investment banker who unseated moderate 11-term Republican Christopher Shays of Connecticut.
Sex scandals turned out incumbents in two districts. Florida Democrat Tim Mahoney, who was accused of paying a settlement fee to a former female staff member to cover an alleged affair, lost to Republican Tom Rooney.
And on Staten Island, Democrat Michael McMahon beat GOP contender Robert Straniere for a seat that became vacant after Representative Vito Fossella, who in May was charged with drunken driving and acknowledged having a child from an extramarital affair, decided not to run for reelection.
Four US Senate seats remained undecided yesterday. Freshman Republican Saxby Chambliss failed to win more than 50 percent of the vote in his Georgia race, forcing a runoff in December against Democrat Jim Martin. Chambliss is favored in that contest, but the National Republican Senatorial Committee put out a fund-raising appeal to supporters yesterday to help Chambliss keep his seat.
In Oregon, votes were still being counted in an excruciatingly close race between Republican Gordon Smith and his Democratic opponent, Jeff Merkley. Democrats were optimistic there, because the uncounted ballots were from Democratic areas.
In Minnesota, Democrat Al Franken trailed the incumbent, Republican Norm Coleman, by just a few hundred votes. Under state law, a recount is automatic.
And in Alaska, Republican Ted Stevens, convicted last month on seven counts of bribery, narrowly led his Democratic opponent, Mark Begich, by about 4,000 votes. But more than 40,000 absentee votes had yet to be counted, leaving the result uncertain.
Once senators return to work, the math could still change. Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman, a onetime Democrat who ran as an independent in his last race, has been caucusing with the Democrats, giving the party the critical 51st vote it needed in the current Congress to hold the majority.
But Lieberman deeply angered his Democratic colleagues when he endorsed GOP Senator John McCain for president, campaigning with the Arizona lawmaker and criticizing Obama. Lieberman is expected to meet this week with Senate majority leader Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, and Capitol Hill was rife with speculation that Lieberman - no longer needed to give the Democrats a majority - would lose his committee chairmanship.
Stevens, too, faces approbation from his own party. McConnell has already pledged that Stevens will face an immediate expulsion vote from the Senate if he does not win appeals on his convictions. 