Listen to Bronwen Maddox on the future of the US under the Democrats

Power brokers

The era of political co-operation promised by Democrats and Republicans was crumbling before it had even begun yesterday when the new Congress opened amid growing divisions over Iraq and accusations of dirty tricks.

With the Democrats taking control of Capitol Hill for the first time in 12 years, Nancy Pelosi was sworn in as the first woman Speaker of the House. Handed the Speaker’s gavel, she told a packed and cheering house: “I accept this gavel in the spirit of partnership, not partisanship, and I look forward to working with Republicans in Congress for the good of the American people. We may be different parties but we serve one country.”

In the hours before she spoke, though, Republicans had already accused the new Democrat majority of gross hypocrisy and strong-arm tactics, and a fresh battle loomed over President Bush’s plans to escalate the war.

Ms Pelosi repeated her pledge to push through the Democrats’ six main campaign promises in the House of Representatives’ first 100 legislative hours, a largely symbolic and uncontroversial list. But to ram through the Bills so quickly — a piece of legislative choreography aimed to show that they mean business — Democrats said they would block the minority Republicans from debating the measures or introducing amendments. Republicans cried foul, accusing Ms Pelosi of reneging on her campaign promise to restore the rights of the minority party.

“It looks as if the American people have been duped,” Eric Cantor, a House Republican whip, said. “They were led to believe that there would be a different way of doing business here in Washington.”

Meanwhile, the toxic issue of Iraq loomed over Democrat celebrations. White House officials, briefing anonymously, said that Mr Bush was to announce a “surge” of up to 40,000 US troops into Iraq, probably during a prime-time television address on Tuesday.

The move was the clearest sign that Mr Bush has no intention of bowing to a Congress where nearly all Democrats, and a growing number of Republicans, want to begin a phased withdrawal. It also demonstrates that Mr Bush refuses to see his party’s loss of both houses in the midterm elections as a popular repudiation of the war. But in a clear warning of the battle to come, Ms Pelosi said that Mr Bush must present a new plan “that allows us to responsibly redeploy our troops” out of Iraq.

Armed with majority status and the power of subpoena, Democrats have promised up to a dozen oversight hearings into the war. If Iraq continues its descent into chaos, the cries from Congress to end US involvement will become deafening and any talk of bipartisanship will be forgotten.

Although Mr Bush enters a new chapter facing an opposition-led Congress, he made clear that he would not hesitate to use his veto and block any attempt to water down his tax-cutting agenda. Democrats have a 31-seat majority in the House — too few to override a veto — and only a single seat advantage in the Senate.

Democrats were also given a taste of potential pressures from the Left of the party, which wants them to cut funding for the war, a move that Ms Pelosi and Harry Reid, the new Senate leader, have ruled out.

Democrats and Mr Bush do share common ground on a handful of issues. The President has indicated conditional support for raising the minimum wage, and for funding alternative energy sources. The White House and Democrats are also likely to forge legislation increasing the rights of illegal immigrants. But legislation hopes are likely to founder as the 2008 presidential race approaches. At least six senators have White House ambitions and controversial Bills will suffer as politics take over.

Despite the underlying tensions, Ms Pelosi, a California liberal, made the most of her ascension to Speaker. She was due to begin 72 hours of celebrations with a $1,000-a-plate dinner, including performances from Carole King, Tony Bennett and the surviving members of the Grateful Dead.

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