Delegates from Utah peer into the future

WASHINGTON — While Utah's congressional delegation correctly predicted Nancy Pelosi would be the next speaker of the House if Democrats took control of Congress, it is too early to tell if the rest of their predictions will come true.

Before the November election, the Deseret Morning News asked federal officeholders to predict three things that might happen over the next two years if the Democrats took control of the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate.

The Republicans spent their last days as the majority party in Congress last week, and Congress officially called it quits for the year. And for the 109th session, they, along with Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson, will have to see if their crystal balls worked properly.

Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, wrote "liberal San Francisco representative Nancy Pelosi would be speaker of the House. That's scary enough," and Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, wrote "Nancy Pelosi will become speaker of the House of Representatives and third in line for the presidency."

So one point, if there is a score, for each. Pelosi, D-Calif., will become the first female speaker of the House when the session starts on Jan. 4.

But the rest of the predictions are a little more speculative.

"Based on the bills and budgets the Democrats have proposed in the last few years, the legislative agenda would shift dramatically to the left and overall spending and taxes would likely increase significantly," Bishop wrote.

Cannon said the House Democrats "will spend the next two years attempting to undermine the work of the president and Republicans in Congress to secure the nation and combat terror" and that they "will hamstring our efforts to develop the resources we so desperately need to achieve greater energy independence and to fuel continued economic growth."

Matheson was a little nicer to his own party, saying he would "hope for more balanced budgets; the end of funding for the design and development of new nuclear weapons; and the adoption of a long-term research and development program to wean us from our dependence on foreign oil."

Matheson secured a seat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Monday, so while he loses his other committee seats, he will have a prime spot for determining whether his predictions come true.