Congress' Changing Face Could Affect Policy

Nov. 10, 2006 — -- Slowly but surely, Congress is starting to mirror the nation in the gender, ethnic and religious makeup of its members.

And the changing face of the House and Senate may have an impact on legislation, putting a renewed focus on domestic policy.

Although white Christian men continue to dominate Capitol Hill, there are more women and Jews in Congress as a result of Tuesday's midterm election. The number of Hispanic and black lawmakers remains unchanged, but a few are poised to take leadership positions on important committees in the House.

"The changing makeup of Congress will have more of an impact on domestic policy," says Regina P. Branton, a political science professor at Rice University. "Issues such as Social Security and raising the minimum wage will be back on the table. And it will be interesting to see how the immigration reform debate plays out. It's going to be hard for Bush to push the guest-worker program with a Democratic House and Senate, [which includes] some prominent Latino lawmakers."

Although a lawmaker's gender, ethnicity and religion may have some effect on the priorities of the 110th Congress, they likely won't play as much of a role as party affiliation.

"You can't deny that women bring with them a different set of priorities and a different perspective, but I don't necessarily think that those can dominate," says Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution. "There are Republican women who have far different positions than Democratic women."

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Most experts don't expect too much of an impact on Iraq war policy. Although many of the new faces in Congress oppose the war, those lawmakers don't want it to look as if they're abandoning the troops.

"They're in this tough position. If they deny appropriations, that comes across badly to voters back home," says Tenpas.

In addition to Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., making history as the first woman speaker of the House, women made a net gain of five seats, three in the House and two in the Senate. Among them are Democrats Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona.