Democrats plan for first days back in majority

With control of the House of Representatives and the Senate in the hands of Democrats for the first time since 1994, Hoosier Congressmen have begun plotting a new course for the country.\nRepresentative-elect Baron Hill, D-9th, plans to introduce legislation in the first few weeks of the next session that will overhaul the House Ethics Committee.\nHill has called for a new committee to be made up of former members of Congress rather than sitting members as is now the case, which he says will free the committee from the influence of lobbyists and other special interests.\n"It's picking up support," he said. "A lot of other members of the House are liking the idea."\nThe 110th Congress will mark Hill's fourth term in the House. Hill served as the district's representative from 1998 until 2004 when he was defeated by Rep. Mike Sodrel, by fewer than 1,500 votes.\nHill and Sodrel faced off again this year in one of the closest congressional races in the country, which Hill won with 49 percent of the vote.\nHill's seniority will carry over to this term despite his two-year absence from the House.\n"That means you get a quicker choice for office selection and better options for what committees you want to serve on," he said.\nHe said he will seek a position on the Commerce and Energy Committee to investigate energy independence.\nIn addition, Hill said he will support initiatives the Democratic leadership plans to address in the first 100 hours of Congress.\nReportedly, in those first few days of the new session, Democrats, under the leadership of Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, will seek to pass legislation which reduces the influences of lobbyists, enacts the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour and lower the interest rates on student loans.\nKatie Nee, spokeswoman for representative-elect Joe Donnelly, D-2nd, said he doesn't plan to introduce any new pieces of legislation immediately but will support most of the ideas the Democrats have already put forth, especially Medicare reform.\n"Washington is not working for the people right now," Nee said. "It's putting special interests first."\nDonnelly, along with Hill and representative-elect Brad Ellsworth, D-8th, made up three of the 29 seats Democrats gained in the Nov. 7 midterm election.\nEllsworth's campaign manager Jay Howser would not discuss any legislation Ellsworth is planning on introducing or committees he might serve on but said Ellsworth was aware of the local and federal concerns voters had brought to him during the course of the campaign and planned to address them.\n"The agenda of the party is clear," Howser said. "We're going to work to raise the minimum wage and make sure American jobs stay in America. There's a whole host of stuff on the agenda to talk about in the coming weeks"