109th Congress Convenes

The new Congress convened today with calls to implement President Bush's second-term agenda and passage of new House rules that make it more difficult to conduct ethics investigations.

After the swearing-in of new and returning lawmakers who won their contests in the Nov. 2 elections, the House promptly took up rules changes proposed by the majority Republicans.

In a vote largely along party lines, the House approved the new rules package this afternoon by 220 to 195. The package goes far beyond the ethics rules changes, setting out how the House will govern itself in the current session.

Although some of the more controversial proposals were abandoned last night by House GOP leaders in the face of complaints by minority Democrats and misgivings among some Republicans, the rules package includes a key provision that requires a majority vote on the evenly divided ethics committee before an investigation can go ahead, dropping the existing system that triggers an inquiry automatically in 45 days if the committee remains deadlocked.

Speaking in favor of the package before the vote, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), the target of recent House ethics investigations, said he would not be deterred by "countless personal attacks against the integrity of the majority" and called for aggressive action to implement the mandate that he said the electorate handed the Republicans in November.

Internationally, DeLay said, "we will continue to defend our homeland and prosecute the war on terror without retreat and without excuses." He said that "domestically . . . our agenda will be no less audacious." Republicans will continue working to "break down the walls erected by 40 years of liberal policies between the American people and their dreams," DeLay said, adding that "the rules package before us now will help us do this important work."

Speaking in opposition, Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) said, "This body should be acting to strengthen the ethics system in the House, not to destroy it."

She said the GOP-proposed rules package would reduce the House ethics committee "to a paper tiger," allow the majority to "run out the clock on serious ethics complaints" and convey the lesson that "if you have the power and you break the rules, you can just change the rules."

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the House minority leader, said that after abandoning the most controversial proposed rules changes, which she described as showing "unprecedented shamelessness," Republican leaders had made "new mistakes to undermine the ethical standard of the House."

She said before the final vote, "The proposed changes which are still in this rules packages are destructive, and they are unethical."

Despite the focus on the changes in the House ethics rules, Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), the majority whip, said he thought the most important aspect of the rules package approved today was the establishment of a permanent homeland security committee in the House. He said it has not yet been decided who will chair the committee.

The vote on the new rules came after the House reelected Rep. J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) to another term as speaker of the House in a party-line vote.

In the Senate, Vice President Cheney swore in 34 members of the 109th Congress, including nine newcomers: seven Republicans and two Democrats. The Republicans scored a net gain of four seats in the Senate, increasing their majority to 55 of the 100 seats.

In the House, Republicans picked up three seats, giving them 232 of the 435 House seats.