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| Author: | Robert McMahon, Deputy Editor |
|---|
November 3, 2006
In the final days before the U.S. midterm elections, opinion surveys showed Democrats were likely to win the fifteen seats needed to regain the majority in the House of Representatives. Polls suggest they are less likely to win the six seats needed to recapture the Senate. Experts say winning control of one or both houses of Congress would give Democrats a more resonant voice in foreign policy matters and a direct impact on a number of issues, such as international trade and immigration reform. But Democrats are divided on policy toward the war in Iraq, and major foreign policy initiatives are still dominated by the executive branch.
The majority party in both houses holds the chairmanships of committees and subcommittees, giving its officials power to hold oversight investigations of the executive branch, schedule hearings, and call witnesses. In the case of the House, two of the most important functions related to foreign policy are budgetary authority and the right to decide on trade deals. Those who occupy top-level positions, like the speaker and majority leader, can also use their bully pulpit to hold forth on major international developments. Oversight of the executive branch has diminished in recent years under Republican control of Congress and the White House, write Norman J. Ornstein and Thomas E. Mann in the latest Foreign Affairs. This role, they say, has the potential to give Congress a critical voice in foreign policy issues. They cite the Church committee investigations of intelligence failures and illegal surveillance in the 1970s; the congressional committees that examined the Iran-Contra affair in the 1980s; and the review of military operations in Kosovo in the 1990s.
The minority leader of the Democrats in the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who would most likely become Speaker of the House in a November 7 power shift, cites the new plan outlined by the party titled “New Direction for Real Security” as an example of the Democrats’ tough, prudent approach on national security issues. But on the leading foreign policy issue—the war in Iraq—Democrats have given mixed signals and presented multiple strategies for resolving it. James A. Thurber, director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University, says there are clear signs the Democrats would seek to exercise the congressional oversight function more vigorously. “It’s going to be the oversight Congress but it will also be the power-of-the-purse Congress. They are going to use the appropriations process and the supplementals [spending bills used primarily to support defense department needs in Iraq and Afghanistan] to try to redirect our policy toward Iraq.”
In such a prominent post, Pelosi would have a voice on major issues like Iraq or trade, but experts say her most immediate influence would be shaping committee leadership posts. “Foreign policy has not been her bailiwick,” says Nancy R. Roman, vice president and director of CFR’s Washington program, “Her role, if she handles the speakership like minority leader, will be trying to build consensus among chairmen on issues.” Thurber says since the departure of Majority Leader Tom Delay, the House of Representatives has already begun to shift from what was a highly centralized power structure. “I see Pelosi now bringing the chairs in, talking to them, and I see them saluting and saying, ‘Yes, we’ll do that,’” Thurber says. “But she [is not expected to] have a lot of power other than selection of chairs.”
Pelosi has said she will appoint chairmen of key committees based on seniority. With that in mind, here is a look at several key House committees and their prospective chairs:
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