Democrats take Senate, complete sweep of Congress
Incumbents fall in Va. and Mont.
WASHINGTON -- Democrats yesterday took control of the US Senate, completing an election sweep that sent the GOP to minority status in both chambers of Congress and giving the Democrats a base of power they have not had for the first six years of the Bush administration.
After beating four GOP Senate incumbents Tuesday night, Democrats sealed their 51-to-49 majority yesterday when Senator Conrad Burns of Montana and Senator George F. Allen of Virginia conceded to their Democratic challengers. Both races had been close -- the Montana contest was determined by just under 3,000 votes -- but both senators said they would not seek recounts.
Democrats, who achieved their Senate majority with the support of the body's two independent members, will hold power in both chambers of Congress for the first time since 1994. But leaders pledged yesterday to work on a bipartisan basis with President Bush and their Republican colleagues in Congress.
"We can work with the Republicans," said Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, whose title will go from minority leader to majority leader when the new Congress is seated in January. "They set a bad example, not working with us. We're not following that example."
Many Republicans staff members were disconsolate on Capitol Hill yesterday, aware that the party will lose both staff jobs and the ability to set the agenda for committees.
Senate majority leader Bill Frist , a Tennessee Republican who is retiring this year and considering a presidential run, was not in the Capitol yesterday, but his office issued a statement challenging the Democrats to "win the war on terror" and asking them to work with the GOP.
"Democrats must step forward as partners, not partisans," said Amy Call , Frist's communications director. "To do any less is to damage, perhaps irreparably, our ability to act as one government, together, in one of the largest callings of our time."
The Democratic leaders indicated they would pursue some of the party's longstanding agenda items, including an increase in the minimum wage and a new attempt to drive down medical costs by allowing the government to bargain with pharmaceutical companies for lower drug prices. In addition, Democratic committee chairmen have pledged to provide aggressive oversight of the Bush administration.
Senator Richard J. Durbin , Democrat of Illinois and the incoming majority whip, said the biggest impact of the new Congress will be "changing the direction in Iraq."
But Congress is limited in what it can do to influence foreign policy, said John Pitney , a Claremont College political scientist and former GOP congressional staff member.
Congress controls spending and could theoretically cut off funding for the war, a tactic Durbin said yesterday that the Senate would not employ.
"We're not going to bargain the lives of our soldiers in the appropriations process," he said, adding that the new Senate leaders would put other pressure on the White House to force policy changes in Iraq.
Senate Democrats, who have struggled to muster the votes necessary to block Bush's judicial nominees through procedural mechanisms, will next year be able to defeat nominees with a simple majority, if they remain united.
"The bottom line is, we don't want hard-wing ideologues, left or right, on the bench," said Senator Charles E. Schumer, a New York Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
"We are asking the president, now that we are in the majority, 'Do what you have not done before -- work with us,' " Schumer said.
Both Bush and the Democrats, however, are likely to have a difficult time getting their respective agendas passed, Pitney said. While Democratic lawmakers believe they will be able to pass some popular items, like the minimum wage increase, any bloc of 40 senators will be able to tie up legislation under Senate filibuster rules.
Republicans had hoped they would prevail in at least one of the two last races and retain control of the Senate through Vice President Dick Cheney's tie-breaking vote. Many GOP lawmakers anticipated the loss of the House of Representatives, but several were stunned when Democrats managed to oust six sitting senators while losing none of their own.
Allen and Burns had hinted that they would contest the close results.
But it became clear yesterday that the vote margins -- while narrow -- were too large to overcome through recounts. Virginia Democrat Jim Webb began referring to himself as "senator-elect" as early as Wednesday, and President Bush even hinted at the bad news for his party yesterday afternoon, when he announced that he was planning a lunch with Reid and Durbin.
Burns, who was about 2,800 votes behind upstart Democrat Jon Tester yesterday morning, called Tester yesterday to congratulate him on his narrow victory, a campaign aide said. Allen did the same with Webb, a Vietnam War veteran and former Navy secretary.
"We fought the good fight, and we came up just a bit short," Burns said in a statement conceding the race to Tester, an organic farmer with a buzz cut who capitalized on Burns's ethics troubles to take the conservative state for the Democrats. "We've had a good 18 years, and I am proud of my record."
The reversal in power means both of Massachusetts' Democratic senators are in line to chair committees, increasing Bay State power in Washington.
Senator Edward M. Kennedy is slated to become chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, giving the 74-year-old lawmaker more influence on his longtime issues of health and education. Senator John F. Kerry is in line to assume the chairmanship of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee.
Kennedy pledged to use his new position to push for a higher federal minimum wage and to expand federal funding of stem cell research.
"There's going to be a full, full plate," Kennedy said in an interview.
Kerry spokesman David Wade said Kerry wanted to focus on expanding bank lending to minority-owned businesses and to helping businesses provide healthcare coverage for employees.
The Democratic takeover will cause a dramatic shift in the chairmanships of committees. Committees now led by some of the most conservative members of the GOP will next year be headed by some of the Democratic Party's most liberal senators, if the caucus follows its tradition of giving the chairmanships to the most senior members.
Democrat Christopher J. Dodd would replace Republican Richard C. Shelby of Alabama as head of Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, while Democrat Barbara Boxer of California is in line to succeed Republican James Inhofe of Oklahoma at the helm of Environment and Public Works.
But on the Judiciary and Foreign Relations committees, the changes would be less striking. Democrat Patrick Leahy of Vermont, a frequent critic of Bush's judicial nominees, would replace moderate Republican Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania as Judiciary Committee head.
Democrat Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware would replace Republican Richard G. Lugar of Indiana on the Foreign Relations Committee. 