<p>In the first months of the 110th Congress, the new Democratic majority has education high on its agenda. <br/>Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, along with other members of Congress, released a schedule for the first 100 hours of Congress, which includes a goal of cutting student loan interest rates in half, according to Pelosi?s official Web site. <br/>Anthony Portantino, chair of the California Assembly Higher Education Committee, said he has been working on a list of goals for higher education that he hopes to achieve with the new Democratic Congress. <br/>?We are still formulating our overall agenda,? Portantino said. ?Obviously access and affordability continue to be important issues I see on the horizon.? <br/>Over the course of the next few months, Portantino hopes to pass legislation to reform Pell Grant statutes. This could ensure eligibility for students who are dependant on the Pell Grant and make the Pell Grant available for 12 months rather than nine for students who attend school year-round. <br/>Portantino said he sent a letter to Pelosi and George Miller, chairman of the House of Education and the Workforce Committee, addressing these concerns. <br/>Portantino said he is optimistic about the future of higher education legislation in California. <br/>?Education is on everyone?s mind,? Portantino said. ?Education is the key to a successful future and I think our friends in Washington are good people who agree with that.? <br/>The Democratic Party?s six-point plan for 2006, nicknamed ?Six of ?06,? will continue to be followed in 2007. The first point on the plan was to establish honest leadership and an open government. On the first day of the new Congress, they passed lobbying and ethics reforms to prevent unethical lobbying tactics. <br/>On Wednesday, therefore, Democrats plan to pass legislation to raise the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 per hour. Miller, who is introducing the legislation, said in a press release that it has been nearly a decade since the last minimum wage increase and that it is long overdue. <br/>Other topics on the new Congress?s agenda are to expand stem cell research, allow negotiation for lower prescription drug costs and to end subsidies for big oil companies and invest in renewable energy. <br/>The new Democratic Congress also plans on reevaluating the US involvement in Iraq. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, along with Pelosi, sent a letter to President Bush requesting he not send more troops to Iraq. <br/>?Surging forces is a strategy that you (President Bush) have already and that has already failed,? they wrote in the letter, which was sent Friday. <br/>?Like many current and former military leaders, we believe that trying again would be a serious mistake. ... Adding more combat troops will only endanger more Americans and stretch our military to the breaking point for no strategic gain.? <br/>This is the first time in 12 years the Democrats have been in control of Congress. With a Republican administration, some, including political science professor Scott Curtis James, believe there will be conflict. <br/>?I expect a certain degree of conflict between the Congress and the president,? James said. ?Especially because it?s a year leading into the election year ... I?d also expect less cooperation between the branches.? <br/>However, Bush has made an effort to reach out to the Democrats. White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore told the Los Angeles Times that Bush has held at least 10 meetings with members of Congress, most of whom were Democrats. <br/>Bush called for an effort to find ?common ground? in a statement released Wednesday, and Democrats such as Senator Charles Schumer, D-New York, said that they were hopeful that Bush?s talk of compromise will be upheld, according to the Los Angeles Times.</p><br><br><a href='; target='_blank'>;