With Changes on Capitol Hill, California Is Set to Assert New Clout

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT: With Changes on Capitol Hill, California Is Set to Assert New Clout
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER
Published: November 13, 2006


Representative Nancy Pelosi, in line to be House speaker, is one of several California officials who will have more influence in Washington.

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 12 — Among the many beneficiaries of last week’s seismic power shift in Washington, few states are in the position to reap as much gold as California.

The nation’s most populous state has also counted itself among the most marginalized in the Republican era, a place where primary votes in presidential contests happen after the fact, federal dollars do not flow in sufficient amounts and American values are said to go to die.

But with Representative Nancy Pelosi as the emergent House speaker and several other members of the state’s Democratic delegation in line to receive crucial committee positions in the House and the Senate, much of that stands to change.

Democrats here are positioned to gain serious influence over public policy — and financing — in areas including education, the environment and agriculture. Among other things, they stand to influence the passing of a compromise measure on immigration, of great importance to this heavily farm-dependent state.

Among the legislators who will gain power, many are seasoned former committee leaders who know their way around Washington....

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/13/washington/13calif.html