New US Congress convenes under Democratic control

WASHINGTON, Jan 4 (Reuters) The 110th US Congress convened today with President George W Bush facing Democrats for the first time in control of both the Senate and House of Representatives.

Having swept Bush's Republicans from power in the November 7 congressional elections, Democrats have promised to push for a phased withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, close the growing gap between America's rich and poor and clean up how the scandal-rocked Congress does business.

One of the House's initial votes will be to elect Nancy Pelosi, a liberal California Democrat, as the first woman to lead the chamber as its speaker.

The first day of the new Congress was mostly taken up with ceremonial activities, including the swearing-in of the 535 House and Senate members.

Capitol hallways were jammed with lawmakers' spouses and other relatives. One spouse, former President Bill Clinton, husband of New York Sen Hillary Clinton, strolled through the Senate press gallery just before noon. ''I came to apply for a job,'' he joked.

But Democrats planned to quickly get down to business.

The first item on the House and Senate agendas in coming days was ethics reforms to clean up how the scandal-rocked Congress does business.

They will essentially put some new barriers between lawmakers and lobbyists following a series of ethics breeches that led to four House Republicans resigning last year.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said he and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky would try to craft a bipartisan bill to raise the minimum wage. A simple 2.10 dollars per-hour increase over two years will first be passed by the House. Senate Republicans and Bush want new small business tax breaks added in.

But the new spirit of bipartisanship that was on display on on the first day will be tested by the Iraq war, which has brought bitter divisions between Republicans and Democrats.

Bush soon will unveil a new Iraq strategy that could include increasing combat troop levels, a move opposed by most Democrats.

Reid said senators would try to work together on Iraq but he acknowledged the difficulty.

There are a lot of things that need to be accomplished and we're going to work on those in spite of Iraq,'' Reid said, referring to his party's domestic agenda that is aimed at closing the growing gap between America's rich and poor.

Sen John Sununu, a New Hampshire Republican, said a closed meeting of all senators before the start of the new Congress highlighted the difficulties of dealing with Iraq.

''It makes our ability to work in a civil way more important,'' Sununu said.

Other major issues Democrats want to tackle this year include putting the US budget on a glide path to balance within five years.

yesterday, Bush embraced that goal but he did not say how he it would be achieved when he submits his fiscal 2008 budget request to Congress in early February.

Democrats also plan to challenge Bush again on expanding stem cell medical research, a measure the president vetoed last year.

In an attempt to ease the financial burden on middle-class families and the elderly, Democrats also want to cut interest rates on loans for college tuition and allow the federal government to negotiate with companies for lower prescription drugs for senior citizens.

Democrats say they will take on the powerful US oil companies by proposing an end to some federal subsidies and investing the savings in renewable energy.

While these initiatives are expected to move quickly through the House, some of them could face tougher going in the Senate.

REUTERS PB RN2306