Republicans on Tuesday added to their majorities in both the Senate and House of Representatives, bolstering the chances that comprehensive energy legislation will get through Congress next year, a legislative expert said.

With the GOP firmly entrenched in both houses, the broad energy bill has a “better chance” of being passed by the Senate in the next legislative year, but “don’t assume that all the problems will go away,” said Martin Edwards, vice president of legislative affairs for the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA).

The “fault lines tend to run more regionally than partisan” when it comes to the energy bill, which has been stuck in the Senate since the start of the year, he noted. Edwards pointed out that six Senate Republicans, mostly from the Northeast, joined the Democratic effort to block a vote on the measure this year.

Nevertheless, he believes a second Bush term augurs well for energy. “I think with Bush being re-elected, it frees up the administration to be more aggressive in pursuing energy legislation in the next Congress,” he said, adding that the administration was timid on the issue during the campaign.

“I think it’s important for the administration and Congress to enact energy legislation fairly quickly in the new Congress,” Edwards told NGI. “Don’t let it drag on,” as it has in previous years, he said.

“The next four years will likely be a challenging time for all energy consumers, given a continuing tight market for natural gas and other fuels,” said Joseph Blount, chairman of the Natural Gas Supply Association. He called for Bush and Congress to address energy issues head on in the next legislative session.

The American Gas Association called on Bush to provide “strong leadership” to ensure sufficient energy resources, including natural gas. While Congress approved legislation this year supporting the construction of an Alaskan gas pipeline, “much remains to be done,” the group said. “Critical issues such as natural gas supply, rising customer demand for energy, economic growth and national security will be in play in Congress and many states next year.”

The Republicans picked up a total of four additional seats in the Senate from the Democrats, Edwards noted. This gives the GOP about a 55-seat majority in the next Senate, with Democrats holding 44 seats. Republicans picked up seats in South Dakota, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina, North Carolina and Florida, while Democrats stripped the Republicans of two seats in Illinois and Colorado.

Although Republicans will enjoy a comfortable margin in the Senate, it’s still short of the 60 votes needed to head off any filibusters by Democrats in the Senate.

In the House, the Republicans were expected to pick up about five additional seats, bringing their majority to approximately 232 in the new Congress, Edwards noted. It appears Democrats will hang on to about 201-202 seats, he said.

The biggest upset of Tuesday night was in South Dakota, where Democratic Sen. Tom Daschle, Senate minority leader who has served in Congress for 26 years, lost to Republican challenger John R. Thune by a margin of about 4,500 votes. It was the first time that a senator in a leadership position has been defeated since 1952, according to Edwards.

Senate Minority Whip Harry Reid (D-NV) has made it known that he is interested in succeeding Daschle as the leading Democrat in the Senate. Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT) has not yet indicated whether he will challenge Reid for the post, according to Congressional Quarterly. Dodd ran for leader in 1994 against Daschle, and lost by a single vote, it said.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), who was in an extremely tight race with former Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles (Democrat), won that state, silencing critics who claimed that she only got the job because of her father, Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski and former senator. Murkowski is the first woman ever elected to Alaska’s congressional delegation, according to Edwards. The apparent victory of Murkowski “to me is more surprising” than the defeat of Daschle, he said.

Louisiana voters on Tuesday elected their first GOP senator — David Vitter — since the 1870s, Edwards noted. Vitter will succeed Sen. John Breaux, a Democrat who is leaving the Senate at the end of this year. Also noteworthy was the defeat of Rep. Philip Crane of Illinois, the longest serving GOP member of the House (about 35 years), to Melissa Bean, a Democrat.

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