Democrats win control of both houses of Congress

Washington, Nov 10: Democrats swept to power in the US Congress, bagging the last undecided US Senate seat from Tuesday's election, and ending the 12-year-long dominance of President George W Bush's Republican Party.

The Democratic party now has control over both the houses of Congress - House of Represntatives and the Senate.

In the 100-member Senate, the Democrats and Republicans each have 49 seats. However, two independents - Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Bernie Sanders of Vermont have pledged to vote with the Democrats.

In the 435-member House of Representatives, the party position is - Democrats 229 and Republicans 196. Ten seats are still undecided.

The Democratic Party gained 29 seats in the elections, including 28 from the Republican Party. An impendent sitting member lost his seat to the Democratic Party.

The session of the new Congress will begin in January. Meanwhile, its existing two houses will meet next week to dispose of some important matters.

Senator Harry Reid, who is set to become Senate Majority Leader in the new Congress, called for a new direction in Iraq.

Democratic Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, who is to become the first female Speaker of the House, met President Bush yesterday. The latter had invited her for lunch.

President Bush congratulated the Democrats, and called on both parties to set aside differences and work on important issues.

''We will not agree on every issue, but we do agree that we love America equally, that we are concerned about the future of this country, and that we will do our very best to address,'' Mr Bush said.

Ms Pelosi said, ''I look forward to working in a confidence-building way with the president, recognising that we have our differences, and we will debate them, and that is what our founders intended. But we will do so in a way that gets results for the people of America,'' the opposition leader said.

UNI

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