Every Congress has its own personality. Some are united and strongly bipartisan, while others may be fractious and difficult. In early January, the 109^th Congress was sworn in and faces some important challenges. Let’s take a look at what are likely to be the top priorities of this new Congress.

First, the 109^th Congress will have more Republicans. In the 2004 election, the Republicans gained four more Senate seats, giving them a 55 seat majority. In the House, the Republicans picked up several new seats, but the division between the two parties remains roughly similar to the 108^th Congress.

Several top priorities will be held over from the last Congress. The War on Terrorism, the Iraq War and the Middle East peace process will all have the full attention of Congress and President Bush. While the President will set an agenda, Congress is likely to remain united on these important foreign policy issues.

In the year ahead, Congress needs to reinforce the message that the death of Yasser Arafat gives both Israelis and Palestinians a unique opportunity to move the peace process forward. In Iraq and Afghanistan, Congress needs to ensure that our troop levels are adequate, particularly given the continued escalation of fighting in Iraq. We also need to appropriate enough funds so that our soldiers have all the necessary equipment such as body armor and fully-armored vehicles.

One important accomplishment of the 108^th Congress was the passage of the 9/11 bill, which reorganized our nation’s intelligence gathering structure, creating a National Director of Intelligence and a National Counterterrorism Center. However, I was disappointed that the final bill failed to include a restructuring of the funding formulas by which homeland security funds are awarded. I support a funding formula based on actual threat level and vulnerabilities, and not one based solely on population.

The final bill also removed provisions that would have taken into account proximity to past acts of terrorism and commuter and tourist populations in awarding additional homeland security funding. In the 109^th Congress, I will be working to improve the homeland security funding formula that I believe makes more sense.

Unfortunately, our current $413 billion budget deficit is a serious complicating factor to many policy initiatives. Congress recently raised the debt ceiling to more than $8 trillion, signaling that our nation’s current national debt of $7 trillion is likely to go even higher. Debt of this magnitude will eventually have a serious effect on our nation’s economy and our ability to deal with important national priorities.

After the November election, President Bush clearly stated his intention to "reform" Social Security and our tax structure. While he has not elaborated, the President has said he wants to make the three tax cuts from his first term permanent, and to use some portion of the Social Security trust funds for private retirement accounts.

I believe that Democrats and Republicans in Congress could agree on non-controversial changes to Social Security that would strengthen the solvency of the program without moving toward a dangerous precedent of diverting Social Security funds into individual private accounts. Such a move would only add to our already soaring deficit.

Our nation is facing uncertain times. I will join with other members of the 109^th Congress who are committed to putting partisanship aside and working together for the good of the nation.

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