What will life be like when Democrats take power in the next Congress?
Dave Christensen, director of government relations for the Family Research Council, said it certainly won't be what we've become accustomed to over the last dozen years.
"It's going to be very different, not only because of what bills may get passed, but what bills we won't be voting on," he said. "I don't expect votes on bills that the House recently passed, such as the Public Expression of Religion Act, to protect religious expression and to stop frivolous lawsuits on Establishment Clause cases. The Pledge Protection Act is something we've had votes on. That's not something we can expect votes on.
"What they are going to have votes on, instead, will be increased federal funding for comprehensive sex-ed programs; they will also try to water-down the current pro-life provisions that prevent federal funding for abortions, particularly in military hospitals overseas. So the tone of Congress is going to change."
House Leadership
Who will lead the House? The most liberal of liberals.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who has served as minority leader, is expected to become the next speaker of the House. There is some question whether Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., or Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., will become the majority leader. Rep. James Clyburn, D-Texas, is expected to become majority whip.
"Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer have both consistently voted for the pro-abortion position on issues," Christensen said. "They have taken extreme positions on increased federal funding for Title X (sex-education) programs and programs that put money into the coffers of Planned Parenthood. They have not supported the issues that most pro-lifers, most values voters, support at all."
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Amanda Banks, federal policy analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said all of the proposed Democratic leaders scored 0 percent on the Family Research Council Action/Focus on the Family Action scorecard — except one.
"Actually, Rep. Hoyer scored 28 percent," Banks said.
The anticipated Republican House leadership, however, is likely going to be amenable to the pro-family agenda. Reps. Mike Pence, R-Ind., and John Boehner, R-Ohio, are candidates for minority leader, and Reps. John Shadegg, R-Ariz., and Roy Blunt, R-Mo., are candidates for minority whip.
"All four of these men are conservatives," Banks said. "We have a great possiblity of having conservatives in leadership who truly believe in family values. Some of them in recent days have spoken out and said they not only believe in the values agenda, but that the Republican Party must return to their core values which includes conservative social policy. "
Senate Leadership
In the Senate, the leadership news is also not encouraging. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the current minority leader, is expected to become majority leader. Illinois Sen. Richard Durbin will become majority whip.
Banks said a great deal is already known about Reid.
"The thing that sticks out for so many conservative Americans is his obstruction," she said. "This is a senator who led obstruction on judicial nominees and made 60-vote supermajorities necessary on nearly all legislation. That made it very difficult to achieve what we would have liked in a Republican-controlled, conservative Senate. So it does cause concern."
For the Republicans, meanwhile, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is being mentioned for the minority leader post and Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee or Sen. Trent Lott of MIssissippi, for whip.
"Each of these men has voted for the pro-family conservative agenda for many years," Banks added.
Committee Chairmanships
As the majority in both chambers, Democrats will chair all congressional committees.
"Most of the Democrats who will probably hold committee chairmanships will toe the liberal party line," Christensen said. "What's interesting is that the Democrat leadership in the House is far more liberal than some of the new freshman Democrats that were just elected."
Committee chairmanships are being negotiated right now. Here are some of the prospective candidates in the House:
• Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., is expected to become chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
"He has already said several times recently that there us not a single tax cut that he would support," Christensen said. "That would include the child tax credit, which right now is about $1,000 per child for a family; it would include the elimination of the marriage penalty, wherein married couples pay more taxes than they would if they were filing individually, as if they weren't married. Charlie Rangel doesn't support any of that. He's going to want to see taxes go up on the family."
• Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., is expected to chair the House Select Committee on Intelligence
Hastings was impeached as a federal judge in Florida before being elected to the House of Representatives.
• Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., is expected to be chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
"Rep. Conyers has already supported hate-crimes legislation," Christensen said. "There's no question that he will support other liberal causes."
• Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., is slated to head the House Government Reform Committee.
Waxman, who has voted 100 percent for the agenda of the American Civil Liberties Union, has led the fight to abolish abstinence education.
"Waxman is Enemy No. 1 against abstinence education and crisis-pregnancy centers," Christensen said. "Abstinence education would be in very hot water with a Waxman chairmanship."
Turning to the Senate:
• Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., will be chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Bruce Hausknecht, judicial analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said Sen. Leahy's probable chairmanship will "undoubtedly become known as the worst of the unintended consequences" of the '06 elections.
"His impact on the confirmation of federal appeals-court judges will repeat the 'black hole' experience of the period of May 2001 through January 2003, when Leahy also chaired the committee," Hausknecht said.
"For example, the same month that Leahy became chairman in 2001, John Roberts was nominated for the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals," he said. "Some 19 months later, Leahy still hadn't even given him a hearing.
"He treated 11 other nominees with similar contempt," Hausknecht added.
Pro-family legal analysts expect nothing different out of Leahy this time, Hausknecht added.
"I also anticipate that any openings on the Supreme Court will engender a campaign of obstruction, led by Leahy, of such magnitude that it will make Justice Alito's contentious confirmation process look like a walk in the park," he said.
• Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., is slated to head the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee
Kennedy routinely votes against pro-life legislation, school-choice proposals and consistently opposes family-friendly legislation.
"Sen. Kennedy is very pro-abortion," Banks said. "I'm not at all hopeful that pro-life legislation will ever clear his committee, which, along with the Judiciary Committee, is where most of it begins."
(Paid for by Focus on the Family Action)
