Congress U S

Under President Bush, California Democrats often felt like Rodney Dangerfield. But with Barack Obama headed to the White House -- giving their party control of both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue for the first time in 14 years -- lawmakers from one of the nation's bluest states are looking to gain more than just respect. They expect to wield more political clout as well.

As chairman of his party's congressional campaign committee, Rahm Emanuel helped scores of current House Democrats win their seats. When Tom Daschle was the Senate Democratic leader, he funneled more than $1 million to a new generation of lawmakers seeking office. Now, as key members of Barack Obama's incoming administration, Emanuel and Daschle are using their clout to help build sturdy bridges between the White House and Congress, coordinating their plans well before Inauguration Day.

A senior advisor to President-elect Barack Obama warned Sunday that American automakers would have to come up with a plan to restructure before the industry received any federal bailout. "They're going to have to retool and rationalize their industry for the future. And if they don't do that, then there's very little that taxpayers can do to help them," incoming White House senior advisor David Axelrod said on ABC News' "This Week."

Congressional leaders agreed Thursday to give Detroit automakers more time to make their case for a $25-billion emergency bailout, but they demanded that General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler provide detailed plans for using the money to assure their long-term viability without more handouts. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) agreed to call Congress back into session next month to revisit the bailout issue.

Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson told unhappy congressional Democrats on Tuesday that, barring a new catastrophe, the Bush administration intended to stand pat on its existing effort to stabilize financial markets -- and leave the next stage of economic recovery to the new administration.

Chief executives of the nation's once-mighty Big Three automakers came to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to plead for $25 billion in federal aid, but the idea of bailing out Detroit has run into a wall of skepticism from a broad cross-section of lawmakers concerned about the environment, unions and Japanese auto plants in their home states. President Bush opposes providing emergency funds to Detroit automakers, though President-elect Barack Obama has called for aiding the U.S. industry.

More than two months before he is sworn in, Barack Obama already is facing a Congress busily asserting itself on the timing and details of the president-elect's agenda, including major issues like healthcare and economic policy. Committee chairmen are unveiling legislation to expand health insurance coverage and curb global warming. Democratic leaders have called a lame-duck session next week to consider an auto industry bailout.

Amid fresh signs that the nation is in recession -- and yet another jaw-dropping decline in the stock market -- Congress is gearing up to enact a new economic stimulus plan to help ordinary Americans. But getting quick bipartisan agreement and White House support to help consumers is far from certain. The battle could be even tougher than the one that played out last month over the $700-billion rescue plan for the financial system.

When Nancy Pelosi was sworn in as the first Democratic House speaker in 12 years, she promised to reach across the aisle to Republicans, to be "speaker of the House -- the entire House." In tribute to that spirit, she dressed in purple -- blending the red and blue that are symbols of partisan division. But she did not look like a speaker of the whole House this week, as the financial industry bailout she helped negotiate was unexpectedly defeated.

At almost the same moment, two unusual scenes were playing out on the House side of the Capitol last Tuesday. Beneath the ornate ceiling of a House caucus room, angry conservative Republicans were confronting Vice President Dick Cheney over the Bush administration's $700-billion financial bailout plan.