Obama Will Work with Nation's Oldest Congress

WASHINGTON — The nation's capital is about to confront a political generation gap: Barack Obama, one of the youngest presidents ever to take the oath of office when he's inaugurated Jan. 20, will be working with the nation's oldest Congress.

The average age will be 57 in the House and 63 in the Senate, according to the chambers' historical offices. In each case, it's the highest on record.

Despite the departure of such veteran lawmakers as Republican Sens. Ted Stevens of Alaska and John Warner of Virginia, both in their 80s, the 111th Congress that convenes today is getting grayer. One reason: Some junior members also moved on — including Obama, 47, and the youngest senator, 44-year-old John Sununu of New Hampshire, who lost re-election.

The oldest member, 91-year-old Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia, returns.

"Even though we're losing a lot of years, a lot still remain," says Senate historian Richard Baker.

Reflects aging nation

In its advancing age, Congress reflects the nation it represents. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates the nation's median age, which is when half of the population is older and half is younger, at 36.6 in 2007 — up from 35.3 in the official 2000 Census, the highest at the time, and 32.9 in 1990.

All but one of 37 House and Senate committee chairs tapped so far (three remain to be named) were in Congress before Obama's 1991 graduation from Harvard Law School. Fourteen arrived in Congress before the incoming president was out of high school.

There are some indications the nation's founders wanted the lawmakers to be on the mature side. The Constitution requires House members to be at least 25 and senators to be at least 30. "The word 'Senate' comes from the Latin root for 'senior,' " notes Don Ritchie of the Senate Historical Office.

Gradually, change is coming to Capitol Hill.

The 232 years of seniority that the Senate lost since last year is the most since 1996, according to Senate Historical Office records. Four of last year's 12 most senior members are gone this year. Two who remain, Byrd and 76-year-old Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., are ceding key committee posts.

In the House, Rep. John Dingell, a Michigan Democrat who has served 53 years in Congress, lost the chairmanship of the Energy and Commerce Committee in an intraparty fight.

Despite the losses in seniority, Congress still bears more resemblance to a retirement luncheon than a campus pep rally. The 82-year-old Dingell was replaced as committee chairman by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who is 69. At the Senate Appropriations Committee, the departure of Byrd as chairman makes way for Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, 84.

Something new, too

The incoming Congress may be older than ever, but it also features much that is new. At least nine senators (the exact number depends on the outcome of the Minnesota recount and the legal fight over filling the president-elect's Illinois Senate seat) and 54 House members will be taking oaths of office for the first time.

They include a record number of women, Hispanic and Asian-American lawmakers, including the first of Vietnamese descent, Rep.-elect Joseph Cao, R-La.

Female lawmakers now number 95, up five from the last Congress.

In a sign that the seniority system is beginning to work for women, Sens. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, will make history as the chairwoman and top-ranking Republican, respectively, on the Small Business Committee. It is the first time women have held the top two posts on a Senate panel.

The black members of Congress represent a slight decline from the high of 43 in the last two sessions of Congress.

Hispanics, the nation's fastest-growing minority, occupy 31 seats, up one from the last Congress. Asian Americans gained two seats to 11.

Makeovers of Congress come so gradually that they sometimes escape notice, says Ray Smock, a former House historian who directs the Robert C. Byrd Center for Legislative Studies at Shepherd University in West Virginia. "It has the appearance of being set in stone, but it changes slightly every election cycle," he said of Congress. "If you take any five or 10 cycles, say a generation of 20 years, you find remarkable change."