The change in power comes as a result of Sen. James Jeffords’ decision May 22 to switch from the Republican to Independent party, giving Democrats control of the Senate for the first time since 1994.

According to Donald Kettl, director of the Robert M. LaFollette Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Senate Democrats have not been leaders on federal management issues in recent years.

"There is not a strong base of leadership in the [Democratic] Party that has been developed on these issues," said Kettl, citing former Sen. John Glenn from Ohio as the last Democrat who fully engaged issues such as civil-service reform. "Democrats will have an opportunity to define a separate agenda, but it’s not clear what that agenda will be."

While it is unclear how a Democratic-controlled Governmental Affairs Committee might try to modify President Bush’s management agenda, Democrats could oppose the administration’s outsourcing goals, said Kettl. That would be fine with American Federation of Government Employees’ officials, who said both Democrats and Republicans should be skeptical of the administration’s outsourcing agenda.