feb07c.indd


Andy Bridges W a s h i n g t o n  H o t l i n e  

110th Congress sworn in 
For the first time in 12 years, Democrats con­
trolled both the House and the Senate when 
the 110th Congress convened on Thursday, 
January 4, 2007. The 110th Congress is also 
the most diverse in history; the freshman 
class of the House has the first Muslim and 
the first two Buddhists to serve in Congress. 
There are 90 women in the 110th Congress, 
74 in the House, and 16 in the Senate. There 
are 42 black members of the House, 27 
Hispanic members, and 7 Asian members. 
With a 233–202 majority, House Democrats 
elected Nancy Pelosi (D­California) as the 
first woman Speaker of the House. 

Despite a new spirit of bipartisanship, 
bitter partisan divisions are expected to slow 
down the workings of Congress, especially 
as Congress deals with divisive issues, such 
as Iraq and the looming Presidential election. 
Senate Democrats have a razor­thin 51–49 
majority in the Senate, far short of the 60 
votes needed to overcome fi libusters and 
pass legislation. Democrats and Republicans 
are keeping a close eye on the health of 
Senator Tim Johnson (D­South Dakota), who 
had brain surgery in December. If Johnson’s 
condition requires him to leave the Senate, 
the Republican Governor of South Dakota 
would likely appoint a Republican to fi nish 
Johnson’s term. That would make for an 
evenly split chamber, with Vice President 
Dick Cheney, as president of the Senate, 
able to cast the tie­breaking vote. 

Immigration reform, the situation in Iraq, 
lobbying reform, balancing the budget, 
telecommunications reform, and a number 
of education issues, including reauthoriza­
tion of the No Child Left Behind Act, are 
among the many issues facing Congress. The 
110th Congress will also have to sort out the 

Andy Bridges is communications specialist at ALA’s 
Washington Offi  ce, e-mail: abridges@alawash.org 

remaining unfi nished fiscal year (FY) 2007 
appropriations bills, while beginning work 
on FY 2008 appropriations bills. In recent 
years, the Senate has provided more fund­
ing for domestic programs than the House. 
The new focus on increased funding in the 
Democrat­led House will help to bring the 
House and Senate Committees closer. 

Further, although the House of Represen­
tatives’ “First One Hundred Hours” will likely 
not include specific library issues, sponsors 
in both sides of Congress, within hours of 
being sworn in, introduced legislative pro­
posals related to Internet policy, telecom­
munications, and broadband deployment. 
Though we may not know the full impact 
of the changes in leadership of the critical 
Senate and House Judiciary and Commerce 
committees, we do know that the same set of 
issues for libraries and information services 
are being readied for further debate before 
the 110th Congress. The highlights of the 
pending agenda read like that of the 109th 
Congress, although the approach of the new 
majority will shift the emphasis. 

Finally, for those interested in “network 
neutrality,” because legislation did not pass 
last year, there are no assurances that this 
issue prevails in the Internet environment. 
While many states are addressing this issue 
now, there is likely to be another effort at 
the federal level by both sides on this issue. 
ALA will continue to support effective net­
work neutrality policies that assure freedom 
of expression on the Internet and for equity 
for all types of information providers. It is 
hoped that any new discussions will be less 
polarized and able to come to consensus on 
this difficult and divisive issue. 

Additional information on the 110th Con­
gress and federal legislation can be found 
at the ALA Washington Office’s Web site 
(www.alawash.org) and blog (blogs.ala.org 
/districtdispatch.php). 

February 2007  105 C&RL News 

http:blogs.ala.org
http:www.alawash.org
mailto:abridges@alawash.org