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Congress opens to pomp, promises

WASHINGTON - Majority Republicans flexed their muscles at the dawn of a new Congress on Tuesday, approving ethics standards opposed by House Democrats and threatening to change Senate rules if needed to force votes on the president's court appointees.

"In this Congress, big plans will stir men's blood," pledged Rep. Dennis Hastert of Illinois, re-elected speaker. He vowed to spend the next two years pursuing key elements of Bush's ambitious second-term agenda.

He mentioned Social Security, including Bush's call to allow individuals to invest a portion of their payroll taxes on their own, as well as energy and transportation bills and a measure to crack down on lawsuits.

Hastert will preside over a House majority bigger by three as a result of the Nov. 2 elections. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee leads a group of 55 Republicans - four more than the GOP had in the old Congress.

The opening gavels fell at noon - the hour commanded by the Constitution - for a day of pomp and controversy.

Hastert administered the oath of office to 41 new House members as well as the veterans. Across the Capitol, Vice President Dick Cheney swore in the 34 senators elected on Nov. 2.

House Democrats criticized the GOP ethics rules in the first partisan fight of the Congress, but Republicans prevailed on a vote of 220-195.

Democratic prospects in the dispute diminished markedly after a series of concessions blessed by Hastert and Majority Leader Tom DeLay on Monday night.

Specifically, the Democrats focused fire on a proposal to require a majority vote of the ethics panel for any complaint to be pursued. Membership of the panel consists of equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats, meaning that lawmakers of either party could unify and block action.

Former rules provided for an automatic investigation of a complaint unless the full committee decides on an alternative approach. That procedure, in effect since 1997, replaced a different requirement for a majority vote that had been in effect for many years.

In the House, Rep. Joel Hefley, R-Colo. who was chairman of the ethics committee last year, said he had concerns about the ethics changes but intended to support them nonetheless. That was not the case, he said, until GOP leaders agreed to modifications.

[Last modified January 5, 2005, 00:41:12]