Control shift reverses roles for Mainers

AUGUSTA – With control of the U.S. Senate having swung to Democrats, Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine said the clear message from voters is they are tired of partisanship and want cooperation, not confrontation.

The election results also mean a role change among members of Maine’s delegation with the Democratic congressmen becoming part of the new majority and the Republican senators becoming part of the minority.

“I think it will mean more political power all the way around,” said Bowdoin College Government Professor Chris Potholm. “The senators will be in even a better position to broker deals with the centrists and in the House, being in the majority is far more important.”

He said committee assignments could juggle in the new Congress, with Maine’s lawmakers finding themselves on more powerful committees, which would certainly benefit the state.

“Hopefully it means a reversal in terms of how typically Congress has approached problems,” Snowe said Wednesday. “I believe the message in this election has been a national repudiation of the status quo. I think people in this country are demanding both sides work together to solve our problems.”

She said the GOP leaders in both the House and Senate too frequently have pushed their agenda without seeking out a compromise that would garner broad support. She said they have paid a high political price with Democrats taking control of the House and possibly the Senate.

“I think the message was resounding across America,” she said. “People are fed up with the gridlock.”

U.S. Rep. Tom Allen of the 1st District agreed. Elected to his sixth term, Allen will for the first time after a decade in Congress be part of the majority. That will give him a role in the House in shaping the legislative agenda that was not possible while in the minority, he said.

“It makes much more difference in the House, where the majority makes the decision on legislation in committee and brings it to the floor,” Allen said.

Sen. Susan Collins said the “magic number” in the Senate is not 51 for a majority but the 60 votes needed to end debate and allow a measure to be considered. She said both she and Snowe have been centrists who have worked with both parties and that will not change.

“I may not be the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee in the new Congress, but I have worked with [Sen.] Joe Lieberman in a bipartisan way to set the committee agenda, and I have talked with him today and he assures me that cooperative effort will continue,” Collins said Wednesday.

Rep. Mike Michaud of the 2nd District said he expects even though the roles will change with the Democrats in the majority and the Republicans in the minority, the delegation will continue to work together on Maine issues.

“We have always been a unified delegation and worked across party lines for Maine,” he said. “I don’t see that changing.”

The other three members agreed that regardless of majority or minority status, they will continue to cooperate on state issues.

Snowe said the shift in control of the Congress should not affect the post-election session where the GOP will still clearly control both the House and Senate. She said only two spending bills, for the Departments of Homeland Security and Defense were completed before Congress recessed for the elections.

“I would hope we could go through the remaining spending bills and pass them and not resort to a continuing resolution and push off spending decisions to the new Congress – that would not be responsible,” she said.

Collins said the session may drag into December in order to consider the nomination of former CIA Director Robert Gates to be Secretary of Defense. She hopes Gates can get on the job by the end of the year and praised his nomination.

Maine’s two senators currently serve on several committees and hold several leadership roles on those panels.

Snowe serves on the Select Committee on Intelligence that oversees all intelligence activities and on the Commerce, Science, and Technology Committee which has jurisdiction over a wide range of issues including science and technology, aviation, oceans and fisheries. She is the chair of the Subcommittee on Fisheries and the Coast Guard.

Snowe also serves on the Committee on Finance which deals with issues relating to taxes, health care, trade and Social Security. She is also chair of the Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship.

Collins is best known for her service as the chair of the committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, where she presided over an investigation of government response to the Gulf Coast hurricanes. She also serves on the Armed Services Committee and on the Special Committee on Aging.

Allen serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee that has broad jurisdiction on several issues as well as the Budget Committee. He expects to chair at least one subcommittee.

Michaud serves on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, the Small Business Committee and the Veterans Committee. He says he could end up as chair of the Veterans Committee, but certainly will chair a subcommittee.