National
Journal Group
Learn more about our publications and sign up for a free trial.
E-Mail Alerts
Get notified the moment your favorite features are updated.
Need A Reprint?
Click here for details on reprints, permissions and back issues.
Advertise With Us
Details on advertising with National Journal Group -- both online and in print -- can be found in our online media kit.
Go Wireless
Get daily political updates on your handheld computer.
|
Last Updated June 22, 2005
Pete Domenici, New Mexico's senior senator, was elected to his sixth term in 2002. He grew up in Albuquerque, the son of Italian immigrants who ran a grocery wholesale business. He played baseball for the Albuquerque Dukes, practiced law and was elected to the city commission in 1966. In 1970 he ran for governor and lost 51%-46% to Democrat Bruce King. In 1972, when a Senate seat opened up in a Republican year, he ran and won 54%-46%, beating a Democrat named Jack Daniels. Ever since he has been reelected by wide margins. Domenici is now chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, but for 22 years he was chairman or ranking minority member of the Budget Committee. He has also been a member of the Appropriations Committee and brought an appropriator's mindset to his work on the budget. He got a seat on the Budget Committee in 1973, his first year in the Senate, and after Republicans gained a majority in 1980 he became chairman in January 1981; he became ranking minority member in January 1987, chairman again in January 1995 and ranking minority member in June 2001. In 1990 he turned down the ranking minority position on Energy and Natural Resources, an important committee for New Mexico, to stay on the Budget. After supporting the 1981 Reagan tax cuts, Domenici was appalled at budget deficits and pushed for entitlement cuts and tax increases, but Democrats fought the first and Republicans the second. In May 1985, Domenici and Bob Dole got Republican senators to pass a freeze on Social Security cost-of-living adjustments; then Ronald Reagan dropped the COLA freeze in a compromise with House Speaker Tip O'Neill, and Senate Republicans, left exposed, lost their majority in 1986. After Republicans became the majority party Domenici's ideas--a consumption tax; more in spending on education and defense than tax cuts--were initially overruled by Speaker Newt Gingrich, but the tax increase he opposed in 1993 and the spending standstill in the budget eventually passed in early 1996 put the deficit on a downward trajectory. Domenici was the impresario in the negotiations that produced the May 1997 balanced budget agreement. He helped to shape the budget resolutions in 1999 and 2000, but as an appropriator helped work out the arrangements that resulted in exceeding the budget caps. In February 2001 he worked to pass the $1.6 trillion Bush tax cut and charged that Democrats had "anti-tax cut fever." Shy one vote in the Senate, Republicans did not end up reaching Bush's goals on the budget resolution. But they came close, and would have ended up much further away if Domenici had been lukewarm about the Bush plan. In June 2001 Domenici lost the chairmanship, but the budget resolution had already passed and in 2002 the Democrats were not able to pass one. In November 2002 he decided, after finding new spots for some longtime staffers, to move to the chairmanship of the Energy Committee; under Senate Republican rules he was eligible for only two more years as Budget chairman. Domenici took over the Energy chairmanship from his Democratic New Mexico colleague, Jeff Bingaman, who became ranking minority member; this was the first time in history senators from the same state held the top two positions on a committee. Among the reasons he did so were his continuing interest in New Mexico's Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories and in promoting the expansion of nuclear power. After the controversy over security lapses at Los Alamos, he sponsored the creation of a new Undersecretary of Energy for Nuclear Stewardship; this was approved 96-1. In 2001 he got the appropriation for the labs up to $5.8 billion, the highest ever and $500 million above the administration request. In 2003 he battled with House appropriator David Hobson who had cut funding for Sandia and Los Alamos. His knowledge of the labs' work made him interested in other programs. He favors development of new nuclear weapons and in 2003 prevailed over Dianne Feinstein in moving forward on bunker buster bombs. The labs also made him aware of homeland security problems before September 11; the Sandia Lab has one of the world's most comprehensive anthrax databases. In 2001 he called for bringing back the Price-Anderson Act, which protected the nuclear power industry from liability for catastrophic accidents. In 2005 he published a book, A Brighter Tomorrow: Fulfilling the Promise of Nuclear Energy. "It's time for a new seriousness," he told a reporter, "unless we really like Americans dying in foreign lands, energy prices driving entire sectors of the economy out of business and dirtier air and water." As Energy chairman Domenici has worked to build support for a bill resembling the Bush energy proposals. He decided early on, in February 2003, not to include oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, because Democrats were prepared to filibuster on that issue. He allowed votes on increasing CAFE auto mileage standards--that was rejected--and put in tax incentives for renewable energies, but not the requirement that utilities get 10% of their energy from such sources by 2020 that Bingaman favored. He put in plenty of provisions for nuclear power. In July 2003 the Senate passed the bill and most differences with the House seemed bridgeable. But several Northeastern Republican senators joined many Democrats in opposing a provision relieving oil companies from liability for MTBE, an additive that government fuel standards encouraged them to use. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and Energy and Commerce Chairman Joe Barton both said they wouldn't accept a bill without the MTBE provision. In April 2004 the tax provisions of the energy bill were added to the corporate tax bill, and in May Domenici thought about putting the entire energy bill in that must-pass legislation. But Majority Leader Bill Frist said he wouldn't bring the energy bill to the floor unless Democrats agreed to limit debate to two or three days, and Minority Leader Tom Daschle said Democrats needed more time than that to propose amendments on climate change and fuel efficiency. In January 2005 Domenici reached out to Bingaman in order to produce a less contentious energy bill. At Domenici's suggestion ANWR drilling was put into the budget resolution and passed 51-49 in March 2005. Domenici has been one of the leaders in the Senate to extend health insurance coverage for mental illness. He became interested in the issue after his daughter Clare, the fourth of his eight children, was diagnosed with atypical schizophrenia. He uses his Appropriations seat to help New Mexico projects. He opposed the Clinton administration arsenic standard in drinking water which, he said, would require New Mexico communities to spend $424 million to meet a standard "lacking a foundation of sound science" and when the Bush administration accepted it, he sought $5 billion to help communities across the nation reduce arsenic levels; he made sure fast-growing places like Rio Rancho north of Albuquerque were eligible. With Jeff Bingaman he sponsored a bill in 2003 for $975 million to improve border security and infrastructure. With Dianne Feinstein he sponsored a bill to allow Indian tribes to contract with the federal government to take care of forests on reservations. When New Mexico's Supreme Court--"partisan Democrats," Domenici said--were preparing to allow people to register to vote without identification in September 2004, Domenici sponsored a bill to require identification. Domenici and Bingaman got into the omnibus appropriation $10 million to the descendants of Hispanic homesteaders who had been paid only a few dollars an acre in the 1940s for land that became part of the Los Alamos Laboratory. When the U.S. Attorney for New Mexico said that the Pueblo Act of 1924 left certain pueblo areas "prosecution-free zones," Domenici and Bingaman in 2005 sponsored a bill to amend the 1924 law. They also worked together in 2004 and 2005 to secure provisions that would bar the Air Force from retiring 10 F-117s currently assigned to New Mexico's Holloman Air Force Base. Domenici has not been successful in seeking Senate leadership positions. He lost the majority leadership to Bob Dole in 1984 and the post of Republican Policy Committee chairman to Don Nickles in November 1990. In December 2000 he made a last-minute race against Policy Committee Chairman Larry Craig; this was taken as a criticism of Majority Leader Trent Lott, although Domenici said it wasn't; in any case he lost 26-24. Domenici has remained highly popular in New Mexico and has won reelection easily. In 2002 he was opposed by Gloria Tristani, granddaughter of longtime (1935-62) Senator Dennis Chavez and former state corporation commissioner and FCC member. He campaigned heavily across the state and was endorsed by 74 mayors, including dozens of Democrats. Some raised questions about his health; he has been stricken with acute pain in two fingers in his right hand since a touch football accident in 1999, but has reportedly reduced the pain by physical therapy and medication. On Election Day Domenici won 65%-35%; he lost only three counties, and those narrowly. He reached out immediately to Governor-elect Bill Richardson, of whom he had been critical in the past. In late 2004 Domenici seemed to be suffering much less from pain and was no longer getting around the Capitol in a motorized chair. When asked whether he would run again in 2008, he said in November 2004 "Some mornings I wake up feeling terrible. Some mornings I wake up feeling great. Now how's that going to affect my decision? Just let time tell."
Committees
National Journal Group offers both print and electronic reprint services, as well as permissions for academic use, photocopying and republication. Click here to order, or call us at 877-394-7350. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NEW FEATURE
[ Site Index | Staff | Privacy Policy | E-Mail Alerts ]
[ Reprints And Back Issues | Content Licensing ]
[ Make NationalJournal.com Your Homepage ]
[ About National Journal Group Inc. ]
[ Employment Opportunities ]
Copyright 2013 by National Journal Group Inc.
The Watergate · 600 New Hampshire Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20037
202-739-8400 · fax 202-833-8069
NationalJournal.com is an Atlantic Media publication.
