In the Senate, Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has been voted in as majority leader in the 110th Congress and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) will serve as majority whip.

Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will serve as minority leader with Trent Lott (R-Miss.) stepping in as minority whip; Lott had been forced to resign from the majority leader position four years ago after making a comment that some perceived as discriminatory.

House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) was elected to minority leader for the 110th Congress. The Republican whip will be Roy Blunt (Mo.).

Now that leadership elections are complete, NAFCU Director of Legislative Affairs Brad Thaler said there could be changes in committee structures and jurisdictions. "The Democrats are looking at the recommendations of the 9-11 Commission for committee jurisdictions, so there could be some issues that fall from there," Thaler said. "I would not expect a great change to any jurisdiction for the Financial Services Committee but it's going to depend on how they try to shake everything out."

He also said that some of the jurisdiction that was taken from the Commerce Committee when Mike Oxley (R-Ohio) took over Financial Services could go back to Commerce, which John Dingell (D-Mich.) is expected to lead.

The credit union lobbyists said they expect Barney Frank (D-Mass.) to head up the House Financial Services Committee, but the ranking member could be among a few different leading Republicans. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) is expected to become the Ways and Means Committee chairman. On the Senate side, Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) will likely lead the Banking Committee while Max Baucus (D-Mont.) will pick up the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee leadership.

Among the Financial Services Subcommittees, Sagar forecast, "I think what you'll see is a likely line up of [Paul] Kanjorski, [Maxine] Waters, [Carolyn] Maloney, [Luis] Gutierrez, and maybe Mrs. [Darlene] Hooley of Oregon. In what order, I don't know because it depends on what subcommittee Mr. Kanjorski will choose, capital markets or financial institutions." There are a lot of variables in play, he said. All but Hooley, a financial education champion, are co-sponsors of CURIA.

Despite this being their first time in control of both Houses of Congress since 1994, Democrats have vowed to work in a bipartisan manner in the coming Congress. While many expected a shorter lame duck session with the Democrats, the tide has turned. "They may try and do an omnibus appropriations package so as to clear the way to have a clean slate beginning in January," CUNA Senior Vice President of Legislative Affairs John Magill said. Congress worked throughout the week before Thanksgiving on reorganization and passed a continuing resolution through early December then return to clear as many appropriations bills as possible. Magill also said he was "a tad surprised" to see expected House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) to begin pushing for a tax extender bill recently. Government sponsored enterprise oversight reform and a new defense secretary were also seen as potential items for consideration for December.

Just because the 2006 elections are mostly over, that does not mean that the credit union political action committees will get a breather. "We're looking at going forward with the new Congress and as the leadership positions get filled, making sure that we're there," Gose said. "We have done a good job in the past at making sure that we stick close, not only legislatively, but politically with these folks."

Through Election Day of the 2005-06 election cycle, the Credit Union Legislative Action Council of CUNA contributed $2.89 million to federal candidates and that figure will go up by year-end as the PAC decides whether to help with campaign debt retirements. Of the races decided, CULAC also enjoyed a 92% success rate with the candidates it backed.

In terms of receipts, CUNA Political Director Trey Hawkins added, CULAC has already surpassed the 2003-04 election cycle–a presidential election cycle that can typically bring in more money–with $3.5 million already in. CULAC expects to collect a total of about $3.7 million by year-end. "Those are particularly strong months for us," Gose said of November and December. "It's the end of the year. Folks think about giving. It's the spirit of the season…whether it's to charities, to families, or even to PACs." He added that grassroots activity, which is less quantifiable, is also crucial.

Hawkins commented, "Keep in mind, we spent very close to $3 million this election cycle so it's an important time for us to replenish the coffers going into the new Congress and the new season."

"It will be interesting to see what 2008 will bring with a presidential election year," Gose concluded. "We're gearing up toward that now with some plans already putting in place of the party conventions and things like that that we'll be happy to announce in the near future."

NAFCU/PAC also had its own record-breaking year. As of Election Day, NAFCU/PAC had raised $342,754.50 and disbursed $415,000 to candidates and PACs. Collections still slightly trailed cycle-end 2003-04 receipts at that time of $390,335 but contributions beat 2003-04′s $296,870. And, NAFCU/PAC far exceeded the last non-presidential election cycle (2001-02) when it took in $131,840 and disbursed $124,183.

Over 90% of NAFCU/PAC-supported candidates won their races. –[email protected]