Democrats in Washington made history last week when, after having taken control of Congress Jan. 4, they chose Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California as the first female Speaker of the House.
Democrats are in control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate for the first time in 12 years, and the vote, 233-202, which confirmed Pelosi’s position, represented the hold Democrats have over Republicans in Congress.
Political Science Assistant Professor Eric McGhee said Pelosi’s election to the position is culturally significant because it means a “glass ceiling” has been broken.
“Women have achieved a lot in politics, but leadership positions, very high-ranking positions, are often still closed to them,” he said. “So the fact that she has taken this position means this is no longer a position that a woman cannot hold.”
Pelosi is in a powerful position because the Speaker of the House has control over the agenda, which means she decides which bills come up for consideration and how those bills are presented, McGhee said.
Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon said that in the past five years, Congress has failed to oversee the president’s decisions on issues such as the rush to war in Iraq and tax cuts for the wealthy.
“For the last five years, Karl Rove has been running the Congress out of the White House and there’s been no questioning his judgment or Bush’s judgment,” DeFazio said. “Congress has basically failed to fulfill its constitutional duties. We’re going to become independent and exert those authorities.”
Among the issues Democrats are addressing during the first “100 hours” of the session is the high cost of a college education.
DeFazio said one of the first six items on the agenda is a proposal to reduce interest rates on subsidized student loans by 50 percent. The five-year plan would begin this year.
A student starting school this year and borrowing the average amount – close to $20,000 – would save around $3,000 in interest on subsidized loans and students who begin school in 2011, when the plan is fully in place would save more than $5,000, DeFazio said.
“It’s a good start, but it is not the end,” he said.
He said Congress will also consider changing Pell Grant eligibility and increasing available amounts.
McGhee said Democratic control of Congress will bring a change in what topics are emphasized, particularly in legislation that comes from the House, as well as more oversight of presidential decisions.
DeFazio said Democratic control “gives me some hope that we can change direction on a host of important issues, whether it’s being bogged down in the middle of a civil war in Iraq, putting the country on a path to bankruptcy, cutting student financial aid while giving tax breaks to rich people – there’s hope we can change those things now,” he said. “The Republicans and the president were quite happy with the status quo.”
Andrew Hill, chairman of the College Republicans, said that while Republicans controlled Congress and the Executive branch, they accomplished “absolutely nothing” over the last two years, but Hill is not confident that this Congress will do more.
“I think that when things are so moderate, there’s not a lot of room for change,” he said. “I’m scared to death of what radical liberals will do, but I’m not so sure the Democrats are going to do much. Right now it appears that President Bush is going to roll over to the Democrats and continue his trend of not vetoing anything.”
McGhee said negotiation is the key when considering whether Bush will sign legislation from this Congress.
“Part of how politics works is the way that you frame an issue,” he said. “So if they send him a bill, they have a considerable amount of ability to shape the issue being discussed, and that can make it harder or easier for George Bush to say no.”
Hill said that while he doesn’t agree with many of the Democrats’ policies, he is hoping for the best with this Congress.
“I’d like to see them be able to do some good things and implement the solutions they say they have and see if it works,” he said. “They’re going to want to pay down the national debt and that’s all good, but I just don’t agree with taxing everyone.”
McGhee said he does not think this Congress will try to eliminate Bush’s tax cuts before the 2008 election and possibly not until the cuts expire in 2010, when Congress will be forced to look at the issue.
DeFazio said he hopes Congress can work on improving the economic security of Americans of all ages, from making a “good education” available to all students, to providing retirement security.
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