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8A FEDERAL UPDATE from page 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .~age 13 Both Sens. Levin and McCain advocate for increasing the size of the Army and Marine Corps to reduce the need for repeated deployments, Increasing funding to replace and Improve equip. ment used in Iraq and Afghanistan, and protecting taxpayers form contracting schemes that result in unnecessary spending on weapons programs. Both parties lost a member on the committee in the elections, with Minnesota Democrat Mark Dayton retiring and Missouri Republican failing to gain reelection. Newly elected Sens. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and James Webb (D-Va.) will also join the panel. Budget. Current Ranking Member Kent Conrad (O-N.D.) and Chairman Judd Gregg (R- N.H.) will change pOSition titles when Congress reconvenes for a new session in January. During his tenure as ranking member, Sen. Conrad has repeatedly called for tight discretionary spending and the need for Congress to re-subscribe to pay- as-you-go budget rules. Such rules require new tax cuts and entitle- ment spending, such as Social Security and Med"teare, to be offset by cuts in other programs. Republicans let those rules expire, making it easier for them to advance their tax cuts, and have blocked Democratic efforts to restore them. Sen. Conrad, like his House counterpart, John Spratt (N.C.-5), is likely to face pressure from his Democratic colleagues to allocate more money to domestic programs, even if that requires finding more revenue. Democrats will add newly elected Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to the committee, and Republicans may be forced to remove Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) to agree with new party ratios. Commerce, Science and Transportation. Current Chairman Ted Stevens (R-A1aska) and ranking minority member Daniel Inouye (0- Hawaii) will swap tiUes in the 110th Congress. Sens. Stevens and Inouye have similar priorities and have worked together ctosely for decades on this committee as well as the Appropriations Committee. With action on telecommunication legislation unlikely during the lame-duck session, the panel is expected to try again next year, with a focus on stabilizing the Universal Service Fund (USF). Sen. Inouye has also been supportive of build- out requirements and is likely to be more receptive to incorporating them in any federal telecommuni- cations law rewrite that the panel may consider in the coming session. The panel may also try again to strengthen rail and mass transit security as well as reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration. Committee members Conrad Bums (R-Mont.) and George Allen (R-Va.) were both defeated in their races, leaving Republicans with their current committee roster to hold their remaining 10 seats on the panel. Democrats wilf add newly elected $ens. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) to the committee. Energy and Natural Resources. New Mexico $ens. Jeff Bingaman (D) and Pete Domenici (R) will switch titles in the 110th Con- gress, with Sen. Bingaman becoming chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Both senators have worked together to develop bipartisan energy legislation in the past including the comprehensive policy overhaul enacted in 2005 (PL 109-58). On many issues, changes are likely to be a matter of degree. For example, While Sen. Bingaman agrees that the nation needs to boost domestic oil and gas production, he is a stronger advocate than Sen. Domenlci of improving energy efficiency and increasing the use of power sources like wind and solar energy. Both senators also recognize the need for the federal government to address global warming through some kind of mandatory controls on greenhouse gas emissions. Republicans lost three senators on the com- mittee - Jim Talent (R-Mo.) and George Allen (R- Va.) and Conrad Bums (R-Mont.)-butwilllikely be Continued on Page 14 Visit the League's Official Webslte-www.caclties.org PRIORITY FOCUS. PAGE 13 December 1, 2006 . Issue #46