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SA FEDERAL UPDATE from page 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 6 against seeking any leadership positions in the new Congress. House Committees. With Democrats back in control of the House after 12 years in the minority, committee leadership and the corre- sponding agendas of incoming Democratic committ~e chairs will likely mean a change In priorities for most House committees. Final reorganization of House committee membership will be decided between now and January 2007, when Congress reconvenes for its 110th session. Agriculture. Current Ranking Member Collin Peterson (Minn.-7) is the most likely candidate to lead the Agriculture Committee through next year's expected rewrite of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002. In addition to revamping Federal commodity programs, rural development programs will also be under review in the reauthorization of the bill. Federal rural development programs have been limited by funding constraints and limited eligibility requirements in recent years, however a coalition of rural municipal stakeholders, including the National Association of Towns and Townships, will be pressing to expand opportunities in rural development programs in the reauthorization of the measure. Congressman Tim Holden (Penn.-H) is expected to oversee this portion of the bill as the incoming chair of the Conservation, Credit. Rural Development and Research Subcommittee. In addition, Congressman Joe Baca (Calif.-43) is expected to assume the Chairmanship of the Department Operations, Oversight. Dairy, Nutri- tion and Forestry Subcommittee. Appropriations. Current Ranking Member David Obey (VVlS.-7) will likely regain the chair- manship of the Appropriations Committee, where he is expected to seek increased funding for domestic discretionary Federal spending pro- grams. Rep. Obey is the current ranking Demo- crat on the committee's Labor-Health and Human Services-Education and Related Agencies Sub- committee, though he may have to refinquish his seat on the Subcommittee when he assumes the full committee chairmanship. In his 12 years as the committee's ranking Democrat, Rep. Obey has consistently advocated for increases in funding for education, medical research, community development. veterans' medical care and border security. However, the Wisconsin Democrat will likely run into several obstacles in his attempt to increase funding for Democratic priorities. In recent years, his propos- als to boost such spending have been paired with tax increases; proposals that remain non-starters for the 196 House RepUblicans and the president. Rep. Obey will likely oversee a plan by the Democratic leadership to reform the charnber's earmarking process. Obey supported a Demo- cratic proposal to require that Members declare if they stand to benefit personally from any earmarks they are seeking, which is part of a broad lobbying package that Democrats vowed to gain passage of if they won the majority. Most of the ranking Democratic subcommittee chairmen are expected to become chairmen of their respective subcOmmittees in the 110th Congress. However, Martin Olav Sabo (Minn.-5), ranking Democrat on the Homeland Security Subcommittee. is retiring. A top candidate to replace Saba is David Price (N.C.-4), who ranks just below Rep. Saba on the panel. Transitioning from ranking member to subcom- mittee chair on the remaining panels will likely be Rosa DeLaura (Conn.-3) to Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and RelatedAgencies; John Murtha (Penn.-12) to Defense; Peter Visclosky (Ind.-1) to Energy and Water Development. and Related Agencies; Nita Lowey (N.Y.-18) or Jesse Jackson, Jr. (111.-2) to Foreign Operations, Export Financing and Related Programs; Norman Dicks (Wash...s) to Interior. Environment, and Related Agencies; Nita Lowey (N.Y.-18) or Rosa Delaura (Conn.-3) to Labor, Continued on Page 7 PAGE 6 . PRIORITY FOCUS December 1, 2006 . Issue #46 Visit the League's Official Website-www.caclties.org