from The Citizens Trade Campaign

The Nov. 4 elections will lead to changes on both the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees as four members lost their reelection bids, and the increased number of Democrats in the overall House and Senate could change the party ratio of both panels.

All Democrats on the Finance Committee who ran for reelection won their reelection bids, and the same is true for Ways and Means, where seven Republican members are also slated to retire.

On Finance, Sen. John Sununu (R-NH) lost his seat to New Hampshire Democrat Jean Shaheen. Republicans appointed Sununu to the committee on Jan. 24, in part to bolster his reelection bid. Finance Committee member Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR) also narrowly lost his seat to Democrat Jeff Merkley.

The United Steelworkers and the Oregon AFL-CIO endorsed Merkley, who is currently speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives. He made trade an issue in his race by stressing his opposition to trade agreements that use the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) “as a model.”

Smith meanwhile had been a strong ally of retailers and had pressed to expand trade preferences to more least-developed countries. On the other hand, he sponsored tough sanctions legislation against Iran that was opposed by multinational firms.

If the Republicans maintain at least nine of their 10 seats on Finance under the yet-to-be determined seat ratios for the 111th Congress, Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) is a potential replacement for Sununu or Smith.

Enzi has gone on record as seeking a Finance assignment, while Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH) is also viewed as a possible pick for the panel. Enzi opposed the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) but voted for the Peru free trade agreement. Voinovich backed both pacts.

The two House Ways and Means Committee Republicans who lost their reelections are Reps. Phil English (R-PA) and Jon Porter (R-NV). English was unseated by Democrat Kathy Dahlkemper, who has advocated the renegotiation of NAFTA and CAFTA.

English voted in favor of CAFTA on the condition that the House approve a bill that would have allowed Commerce by law to impose countervailing duties on imports from non-market economies like China. That bill was not taken up by the Senate. English was not in the House when it passed NAFTA in November 1993.

Trade was not a prominent issue in the race in which Porter was defeated by Dina Titus in Nevada’s third congressional district.

Overall, Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, said trade rose to “unprecedented” prominence in the election races. In a Nov. 6 conference call with reporters, she said the elections brought net gains of 26 House members and four senators with a “fair trade” approach to trade policy, which she characterized as a rejection of the policy model found in NAFTA and CAFTA.

Wallach said this use of trade as an issue “went mainstream” in the 2008 elections, with an “exponential jump” in paid advertising using the issue. She released an analysis showing that 133 races ran paid ads on trade, from 25 in the 2006 midterm elections.

Wallach also said the issue became bipartisan, as Republicans began running “fair trade” advertising, and “a dozen” races saw both candidates competing to cast themselves as the fair trader in the race. Also, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee bought 29 paid ads on trade and globalization, Wallach said.

House Democrats at press time had secured at least 19 more seats in the lower chamber, bringing their number up to 254 compared to 173 Republicans. Another eight seats remained undecided at press time, as six had not been called and another two in Louisiana were headed to runoff elections.

In the Senate, Democrats will pick up at least six seats, with three more contested.

The overall balance of control coming out of the Nov. 4 elections is expected to strongly influence the decision by the House and Senate leadership to determine the party ratio on the Finance and Ways and Means committees. In the House, the process will begin with organizational meetings the week of Nov. 17, when the Democratic Caucus and Republican Conference will vote for their leaders. But sources said it could take until January for the leadership to finalize the distribution of committee seats.

On Ways and Means, both parties could be in a position to assign new members to the panel, due to a slate of retirements of seven Republicans and the August death of Ohio Democrat Stephanie Tubbs Jones. Additionally, Ways and Means Committee member Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) is leaving the House to become White House chief of staff. Currently, 24 Democrats and 17 Republicans sit on the committee.

The retiring Republican members are Ranking Member Jim McCrery (R-LA), and Reps. Michael McNulty (D-NY), Kenny Hulshof (R-MO), Ron Lewis (R-KY), Jim Ramstad (R-MN), Thomas Reynolds (R-NY) and Jerry Weller (R-IL).

In the fight to replace Reynolds, who also sat on the Ways and Means trade subcommittee, Republican Christopher Lee defeated Democrat Alice Kryzan in New York’s 26th District. The race featured seven paid trade ads.

Potential new Republican Ways and Means members include Reps. Charles Boustany (R-LA), Henry Brown (R-SC) and Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), as well as Del. Donna Christensen (D-VI) (Inside U.S. Trade, Oct. 10).

Another key issue facing Ways and Means is the outcome of the ethics probes of Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY), which could lead to his ouster as the top Democrat on the panel.

On Finance, three Democrats and Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) won their respective reelection bids. The Democrats are Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT), and Sens. John Rockefeller (D-WV) and John Kerry (D-MA).

If the increased Democratic majority in the Senate leads to additional Democratic seats on Finance, possible new appointments are Sens. Evan Bayh (D-IN), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Thomas Carper (D-DE) and Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), sources have speculated.

In other races with impacts on trade policy, Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) lost her seat to Democrat Kay Hagan, who had spent the most campaign dollars to focus on trade issues of any congressional race (Inside U.S. Trade, Oct. 24). Dole sits on the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, which has jurisdiction over export controls and currency issues.

The seat of retiring Sen. Wayne Allard (R-CO), who is also a member of Banking, was won by Democrat Mark Udall over Republican Bob Schaffer.

Also retiring from the Senate is Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), who sits on Banking. Replacing him in the chamber is Republican Mike Johanns, who retired this year as U.S. agriculture secretary.

Senate Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), who had fought a hotly contested race with Democrat Jim Martin, will face a run-off election next month.

In other House races, Rep. Nancy Boyda (D-KS) lost her reelection bid to Republican Lynn Jenkins. Boyda sat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, where she advocated for tight controls against cross-border trucking for Mexican trucks.

House Agriculture committee member Rep. Robin Hayes (R-NC) lost his seat to Larry Kissell, a Democrat who attacked Hayes for his support for CAFTA.

Kissell yesterday (Nov. 6) said he ran on a platform of a “moratorium on free trade deals” until the district’s 7 percent unemployment rate declines. He called Hayes’ vote in favor of CAFTA the deciding vote in approving the deal in the House.

Another House race in which trade played a role was between House Agriculture member Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI) who lost against Mark Schauer, a state senator. Schauer on the Nov. 6 conference call said “fair trade” was the “cornerstone” of his successful campaign to unseat Walberg, who Schauer charged voted in favor of every FTA that came before him. Schauer said communities throughout the southern Michigan district have lost jobs due to trade policies.

Schauer said Trade Adjustment Assistance expansion is a key goal.

Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-FL) lost his reelection bid to Republican Tom Rooney. Mahoney, who was involved in a sex scandal, is the lone member of the New Democrat Coalition to lose reelection. The coalition consists of 59 center-leaning pro-trade Democrats.

No members of the Congressional Black Caucus or the Congressional Hispanic Caucus lost their reelections.

Mahoney is also a member of the House Blue Dog Coalition representing fiscal conservatives. In addition to him, two other Blue Dog members are leaving the House. Rep. Nick Lampson (D-TX) was defeated by Republican Pete Olson in the 22nd District and Rep. Bud Cramer (D-AL) is retiring. The race to replace Cramer in the Northern Alabama district was won by Democrat Parker Griffith.

On the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Mark Knollenberg (R-MI) lost against Democratic opponent and state Lottery Commissioner Gary Peters, while Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL) won reelection against Democratic challenger Daniel Seals. Sources said Knollenberg was favored by exporters for his work in support of funding for the Export-Import Bank, while exporters valued Kirk’s moderate approach to China trade policy (Inside U.S. Trade, Oct. 24).

Democrat Eric Massa defeated Rep. Randy Kuhl (R-NY), in the 29th District of New York. Massa argued during his campaign that U.S. jobs have been lost due to a failure to “stand up” to China on trade.

Dan Maffei, a New York Democrat and former press secretary for Rangel, won the seat of the 25th District of New York, defeating Rep. Jim Walsh (R-NY). — Luke Engan

The Citizens Trade Campaign (CTC) is a national coalition whose members include Americans for Democratic Action, Communications Workers of America, Friends of the Earth, IATP Action, International Association of Machinists, International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, League of Rural Voters, National Farmers Union, National Family Farm Coalition, Public Citizen, UNITE-HERE, United Methodist Church General Board of Church and Society, United Steelworkers of America, United Students Against Sweatshops, as well as regional, state, and city-based coalitions, organizations, and individual activists throughout the United States.