Posted on Thu, Jan. 04, 2007

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110TH CONGRESS

S.C. Democrats gaining more clout

Clyburn takes over as House majority whip; Spratt to lead House Budget Committee

By JAMES ROSEN

jrosen@mcclatchydc.com

WASHINGTON — With solemn oaths and a symbolic presentation of a whip, South Carolina’s congressional delegation will gain new clout today as the 110th Congress opens.

U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, a Columbia Democrat, will become the House majority whip, and U.S. Rep. John Spratt, a York County Democrat, will assume the helm of the House Budget Committee when their party takes control of both houses of Congress for the first time since 1994.

“Democrats brought a message of change to the people and a promise to restore a high ethical standard in Congress,” Clyburn said Wednesday. “We’re going to start right away making a difference and honoring our promises.”

The whip post will make Clyburn, 66, the No. 3 leader of the House. He also becomes the second African-American to hold the position.

The National Urban League, representing the country’s largest cities, honored him Wednesday night at a Capitol Hill reception attended by almost 1,000 people, two-thirds of them from South Carolina.

The crowd erupted in cheers when Marc Morial, former New Orleans mayor and head of the Urban League, announced: “This is a very big night — not only for Jim Clyburn, but for the people of South Carolina.”

Donna Brazile, a prominent black political consultant in Washington and former head of Al Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign, heralded Clyburn’s advance and Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s rise to House speaker.

“This is a great, historic moment,” Brazile said. “Never before in Congress have women and minorities taken such prominent positions of leadership.”

Jennifer Reed, one of Clyburn’s three daughters and an eighth-grade English teacher at Dent Middle School in Columbia, beamed with pride as well-wishers embraced and took pictures with her father.

“It’s a very exciting time for us in the family and for the Democratic Party,” Reed said. “I think this opportunity is one that will help put our state of South Carolina on the map.”

Later, Clyburn’s voice faltered as he described his desire to help give his grandchildren opportunities his father and mother never had.

“I will work every day to make this nation a better place for those who are destined to come after us,” he said.

Rep. Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican and the outgoing majority whip, is to give Clyburn an actual whip in a ceremonial presentation this morning in Clyburn’s new suite near the House chamber. Clyburn will assume the leadership post after he and the other 434 House members are sworn into office.

For his part, Spratt — as chairman of the House Budget Committee — will play a lead role in fulfilling Democrats’ campaign promises to cut the federal deficit and impose more fiscal discipline.

“I have a feeling of opportunity,” Spratt, 64, said Wednesday as he entered a meeting of the House’s 232 Democrats. “I think there are great possibilities for this session — both within our party and, I would hope, in a bipartisan way as well.”

Spratt said he is still finalizing the budget panel as lawmakers make last-minute decisions on their committee assignments.

He said his top priority will be to achieve a balanced budget within five years, erasing the nearly $248 billion deficit.

“It’s an ambitious goal, given the ongoing costs of war in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Spratt said.

Donald Aiesi, a political science professor at Furman University in Greenville, said the rise of Clyburn and Spratt would give South Carolina a disproportionate share of clout in Washington.

“Considering that it’s a state of just 4 million people, we’ll have a good bit of positive influence,” he said.

Aiesi said it is ironic the S.C. congressional delegation would reach its highest level of power in decades under Democratic majority rule after a prolonged period of Republican gains in the state.

Because the House and the Senate are so different, Aiesi said, it is difficult to compare the delegation’s new House-based clout with the past power wielded by Republican Sen. Strom Thurmond, who became the longest-serving senator in U.S. history before his death in 2003, and by Democratic Sen. Fritz Hollings, who retired in 2005 after nearly four decades in office.

Aiesi said Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Seneca Republican, will continue to be influential even though his party no longer controls the Senate.

“His ability to work with both parties and to be perceived as somebody who is rational and bright is going to keep him in the spotlight,” Aiesi said.

Rosen covers Washington for McClatchy newspapers in South Carolina.