With just three weeks to go until Election Day and Democrats remaining in the hunt for majorities in the House and Senate, NSSGA has compiled a breakout of potential Democratic leaders and committee chairmen in each chamber. Whoever wins the majority will assume the leadership of every committee - scheduling hearings, selecting witnesses and determining which bills are debated in committee and on the House and Senate floors. If the House changes parties, Democratic staffs would double in size on most committees while current Republican staff levels could decline by half or more. In the Senate, however, the ratio of majority to minority committee staff tends more to reflect the number of seats controlled by each party.

In the Senate, a Democratic majority would be led by Sen. Harry Reid (Nev.) with Sen. Richard Durban (Ill.) serving as Assistant Majority Leader and Democratic Whip, Sen. Barbara Boxer (Calif.) as the likely Chief Deputy Democratic Whip and Sen. Debbie Stabenow (Mich.), if she wins reelection, as Democratic Conference Secretary. If a Republican majority is reelected, the Senate would be led by Sen. Mitch McConnell (Ky.) since Majority Leader Bill Frist (Tenn.) is retiring. It is unclear who might replace McConnell as Republican Whip since the favorite to succeed him has long been Republican Conference Chairman Rick Santorum (Pa.) who ranks among the most endangered incumbents this election cycle.

Sen. Boxer is also in line to chair the Committee on Environment and Public Works currently led by Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe (Okla.), while Sen. Edward Kennedy (Mass.) would take the helm of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Other notable changes would include Sen. Robert Byrd (W.Va.) heading up the Committee on Appropriations, Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.) chairing the Subcommittee on Transportation Appropriations, Sen. Max Baucus (Mont.) leading the Committee on Finance, and Sen. Patrick Leahy (Vt.) in charge of the Committee on the Judiciary.

On the House side, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) would presumably succeed Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) as Speaker of the House. The role of Majority Leader would be filled by the winner of the contest between current Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (Md.) and Rep. John Murtha (Pa.) who has already announced his candidacy for the position.

House Democratic leaders are studying whether changes are required in the seniority system and rules governing general committee assignments as well as related issues such as ethics and term limits. Democratic lawmakers have indicated that they might abandon party tradition and award committee chairmanships not solely on the basis of seniority, but also by weighing factors like legislative record, diversity and work for the good of the party much the way that Republicans went to a merit system for awarding such posts.

Despite any rule changes of this nature, Rep. Jim Oberstar (Minn.) is all but assured of chairing the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure while the Committee on Resources will likely be led by Rep. Nick Rahall (W.Va.). In line to head the Committee on Appropriations is Rep. David Obey (Wis.). Rep. George Miller (Calif.) ascending to the chairmanship of the Committee on Education and the Workforce would signal a dramatic change in direction for that panel as would Rep. John Dingell (Mich.) who would lead the Committee on Energy and Commerce, returning to the post after a 12-year absence. Rep. Henry Waxman (Calif.) would take over the Committee on Government Reform, Rep. John Conyers (Mich.) would be in charge of the Committee on the Judiciary and Rep. Charlie Rangel (N.Y.) would assume the chairmanship of the Committee on Ways and Means.

NSSGA will continue to keep you up to date on any changes to key committee chairmanships following the election regardless of which party holds a majority.

PRESIDENT TO SWEAR-IN PETERS AS TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY

President Bush will swear in Mary Peters as U.S. Secretary of Transportation on Oct. 17 at 12:30 p.m. Peters was confirmed by the Senate on Sept. 29. Ms. Peters is the 15th transportation secretary and the second female to hold the position. She previously headed the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). NSSGA extends its congratulations to Secretary Peters and looks forward to continuing the positive working-relationship developed with the secretary during her tenure at FHWA.

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NSSGA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE APPROVES VISION STATEMENT

During the NSSGA Executive Committee meeting, action was taken to adopt the recommendation of the SAFETEA-LU Reauthorization Task Force and Government Affairs Division on the association's vision and core principles that will be used with the national coalitions to develop winning strategies for reauthorization.

Vision:

NSSGA believes the foundation of America's economy depends on an integrated national intermodal transportation infrastructure network that moves both goods and people in ways that maximize economic prosperity, safety, a clean environment, international competitiveness and quality of life and is designed, built, operated, maintained and financed in an efficient, sustainable manner.

Core Principles:

1. Create a new long-term vision for our nation's surface transportation infrastructure based on the requirements of an expanding population, growing congestion, increasing freight traffic and to assure Americans the freedom of mobility they demand.
2. Increase investment in surface transportation infrastructure essential to meet the projected funding shortfall and grow the multi-year program to meet the requirements of the system into the future.
3. Assure the integrity of the program, and resist earmarks that have been harmful to public support.
4. Preserve and maintain the Highway Trust Fund firewalls and funding guarantees that segregate highway user fees from general revenues.
5. Create flexibility in the program to allow innovative funding mechanisms to enhance the user-fee based program.
6. Support construction materials research essential to development of the most technically advanced, economic and long-lasting pavements.
7. Advocate a multi-year program (six-year minimum) with transition financing to prevent systematic disruptions between reauthorization cycles essential for government and business planning.
8. Support a unified coalition reauthorization effort.

The SAFETEA-LU Reauthorization Task Force will continue to meet to examine all aspects of reauthorization. A core principle of the task force is to work in close cooperation with coalition partners of the Transportation Construction Coalition and Americans for Transportation Mobility. For more information or if you are interested in joining the SAFETEA-LU Reauthorization Task Force, please contact the Government Affairs Division.

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MOST BIG CITIES GET AN "F" ON EMERGENCY EVACUATION ABILITY

A new report by the American Highway Users Alliance grades 37 of the largest urban areas in the country on their ability to evacuate citizens in an emergency and gives only one - Kansas City - an "A." In fact, according to the report, 25 cities rank worse overall than New Orleans. Among those urban areas getting failing grades were Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, Seattle, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York.

The report evaluated three key criteria: traffic flow within the urban area, capacity of major exit routes leading out of the urban area, and population access to automobiles. The study finds that automobiles and roads are the principal evacuation resources. Even the minority of households without cars will rely primarily on others' cars, buses and highways to evacuate in an emergency. The report recommends that the Department of Homeland Security, in consultation with appropriate governmental and private sector entities, establish national urban evacuation standards and a reporting system that would provide detailed information on evacuation capabilities. Increasing roadway capacity and automobile ownership particularly among low-income households would also improve urban evacuation capability. Finally, the report urges every urban area to develop emergency evacuation plans. Click here for a copy of the report.

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THERE IS NO GOOD EXCUSE NOT TO VOTE!

In this crucial election year where control of both houses of Congress is up for grabs, many of these races will be decided by a number of votes smaller than the number of employees working at NSSGA member companies in those states. Your vote and those of your colleagues can make the difference - literally!

NSSGA's partnership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on the "Vote for Business" political program is your "one-stop" place for everything you need to vote. Just access the NSSGA Election '06 "Vote for Aggregates Business" web site via the Government Affairs Division section on the NSSGA web site. There you can register to vote, request an absentee ballot, learn who the candidates are and how they have voted on business issues in the past, locate your polling place, and much more.

More than ever, it is crucial for business to play a key role in electing those who will govern us. NSSGA's "Vote for Aggregates Business" project has made this easier than ever before. Click on the logo below to get started today and don't forget to spread the word to your coworkers to register and vote!

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NSSGA GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS/COMMUNITY RELATIONS FORUM -- REGISTER TODAY, HOTEL ROOMING BLOCK ENDS OCT. 27!

If you care about what your neighbors think about you, this is where you need to be in November! Hotel Rooming Block Ends Oct. 27!

Register today for the first-ever Government Affairs/Community Relations Forum, Nov. 12-14 at the Radisson Plaza Lord Baltimore hotel in downtown Baltimore, Md. The Forum is tailored to meet the needs of aggregates professionals who represent their operations before the public, the media, elected officials and community leaders.

Book your room at the special Forum rate of $125 until the hotel cut-off date of Oct. 27. The early bird registration discount expired on Friday, Oct. 13.

The forum will provide new and advanced tools to produce more effective communications and has been designed specifically for the employee who wears more than one hat in his or her organization. In addition to the communications tools, there'll be sessions dealing directly with issues that predominate in the aggregates industry, including permitting; local, state and federal government relations; land use and your local government.

Well-known and respected authorities such as crisis communications consultant Janine Reid, permitting guru Mike Saint and grassroots specialist Amy Showalter will walk you through state-of-the art strategies for dealing with the challenges you face. Through these expert-led sessions, seasoned communications and government affairs professionals as well as beginners can learn about the newest techniques.

The Forum will also offer a VIP "Behind the Scenes Tour" of The Rocks Gallery at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. This exclusive tour will take you into the research halls of the Smithsonian Institution to learn and view first-hand some of the "rocks" that have had a beneficial impact on mankind's quality of life. When registering, be sure to enter promotional code GACR06ED. Click here to register.

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GEORGE WILL TO BE KEYNOTE SPEAKER AT '07 NSSGA CONVENTION

We are pleased to announce that NSSGA's 2007 Annual Convention will welcome George F. Will as our keynote speaker during its Opening Session on Feb. 28. Mr. Will is a Pulitzer Prize winning columnist and his newspaper column has been syndicated by The Washington Post since 1974. Today, it appears twice weekly in nearly 500 newspapers across the United States and in Europe. He also provides a bimonthly back-page essay in Newsweek magazine and formerly was the Washington editor of National Review magazine. His topic for our Convention is "Public Affairs, Public Policy and American Society."

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