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The 110th
Congress boasts a record 90 women - 74 in the House and 16 in the Senate
- and women and minorities hold an unprecedented number of leadership
posts.
"By electing me speaker, you have brought us closer to the ideal of
equality that is America's heritage and hope," Pelosi said in a
20-minute address.
"This is an historic moment - for the Congress, and for the women of
this country. It is a moment for which we have waited more than 200
years. ... For our daughters and granddaughters, today we have broken
the marble ceiling."
Pelosi was raised in a large Italian-American family in Baltimore,
where both her father and her brother were mayors. She moved to San
Francisco after marrying 43 years ago. A liberal, she was elected to
Congress 20 years ago.
In addition to Pelosi, House Democrats elected a new second-in-command,
Steny Hoyer of Maryland, and the nation's second African-American
majority whip, James Clyburn of South Carolina. The Republican leader is
John Boehner of Ohio.
But Thursday, with momentum on their side, the first order of business
for Democrats in the House was a package of rule changes that Pelosi
called "the toughest congressional ethics reform in history."
Thursday evening, the House approved the first pieces: new restrictions
on travel and gifts from lobbyists.
The new rules are designed to prevent members from taking trips in
corporate jets and prohibit all gifts from lobbyists the old rules
allowed them if less than $50. The new rules require ethics committee
approval before members can take a trip paid for by an outside group.
The House considered several additional rules on Thursday, January 4,
2007:
- Broad new requirements about disclosing earmarks, the pet projects
and tax breaks that lawmakers insert into bills.
- A prohibition on keeping votes open after time runs out so that the
leadership can persuade members to switch. (Republicans were criticized
for doing this in the 2003 vote on the Medicare drug plan.)
- A requirement for a pay-as-you-go approach that puts restrictions on
bills that would increase the budget deficit.
Democrats said the changes would be a stark change from 12 years of
Republican control, when GOP leaders had a close relationship with
corporate lobbyists.
Rep. Kathy Castor, a newly elected Tampa Democrat making her first
floor speech, said the changes will "assure our neighbors back home that
Congress is operating in a way that serves every American."
The rule requiring full disclosure of earmarks and their sponsors would
be the biggest change. Previous rules applied only to appropriations
bills, which traditionally are stuffed with pork barrel projects. But
the rule being considered today would greatly expand the definition to
include other types of bills and tax breaks.
The rule would also prohibit some types of legislative "horse-trading,"
in which members who vote a certain way on a bill are rewarded with a
pet project.
Ethics groups and many Republicans praised the rule changes as a
substantial improvement.
"The earmark reform alone will definitely change things," said Melanie
Sloan, director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
"This seems like it's really intended to catch everything."
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