Dems keep Senate leaders, split in House

WORLD / America

Dems keep Senate leaders, split in House

(AP)
Updated: 2006-11-15 08:41

WASHINGTON - US Democrats voted Tuesday to keep the leaders who guided
their takeover of the Senate last week but were sharply divided over
whether to give Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi the majority leader she wants
in the House.

Incoming US Senate Majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) speaks to the press
on Capitol Hill following his election to the post November 14, 2006.
Reid, a moderate Nevada Democrat, was elected by colleagues on Tuesday as
US Senate majority leader for the 110th Congress that will convene in
January. Senator Charles Schumer (2nd L)(D-NY) becomes the Vice Chair of
the Conference. [Reuters]

Former Republican Majority Leader Trent Lott, meanwhile, opened a bid to
return to the Senate's Republican leadership after being ousted in 2002
for remarks interpreted as endorsing segregationist policies of the 1940s.

"Yes, I am," the Mississippian said Tuesday when asked if he was
challenging Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander to become minority whip in the
newly elected Democratic-majority Congress next year.

Senate Democrats voted Tuesday to make Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada majority
leader and Dick Durbin of Illinois No. 2 in the party hierarchy. Both
have held the same positions but with "minority" instead of majority in
their titles since the 2004 election.

In the House, a bitter battle was under way after Pelosi said she would
prefer Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania to be majority leader over her
current lieutenant, Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland. Critics accused Pelosi
of backpedaling on a pledge to scrub the House of corruption.

Both Murtha and Hoyer claim to have commitments from a majority of
Democrats, but the balloting Thursday will be secret and commitments
often change.

Murtha, a decorated Vietnam veteran who favors an immediate drawdown of
US troops in Iraq, has fought charges for years of using his senior
status on the defense appropriations subcommittee to award favors to
campaign contributions. He voted against a Democratic package of ethics
reforms earlier this year and was touched by but never charged in the
Abscam bribery scandal a quarter-century ago.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a
Democratic-leaning watchdog group, accused Pelosi of compromising her
ethical standards by endorsing Murtha.

1 2 

Top World News 

� Dems keep Senate leaders, split in House

� Terror to top agenda as India, Pakistan resume peace talks

� US: Immigrants may be held indefinitely

� Blair presses for rethink in Iraq, warns Iran

� Hamas accepts peace conference proposal

Today's Top News 

� APEC leaders to talk trade, security

� US signals positives in IPR efforts

� Rumsfeld faces war crime lawsuit

� Dog policy 'not infringing owners' rights'

� Chinese embassy office robbed

Most Commented/Read Stories in 48 Hours

20071125 http://www.hellomandarin.net