Washington ? After a dozen comfortable years in the GOP majority in Congress, Rep. Todd Tiahrt now is searching for common ground with Democratic colleagues who control the House.

Over in the Senate, Republican Sen. Sam Brownback is taking the same tack now that Democrats hold a 51-49 edge.

Both Kansas lawmakers plan to focus more on bipartisan legislation that can get through a Democratic Congress.

“As a practical matter, it’s better for me to be in the majority, no doubt about it,” Tiahrt, of Goddard, said. “But I’ve watched other members on the other side of the aisle be effective over the last 12 years and I’ve taken some lessons from them.”

While Kansas’ mostly Republican congressional delegation will lose some clout in the new Congress, Democratic Rep. Dennis Moore, of Lenexa, is looking forward to wielding more authority for the first time since he was first elected to Congress in 1998. He’ll have company in the form of Nancy Boyda, the Topeka Democrat who unseated Republican Rep. Jim Ryun.

“I hear it’s more fun in the majority,” Moore said. “But the bottom line to me is what can we accomplish. If the Democrats stick together, we should outdo the Republicans.”

Brownback, weighing a 2008 presidential bid, is looking for more opportunities to work with Democrats on issues of mutual concern.

He is working with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., to pass a measure that increases cancer research grants and reduce cancer deaths through earlier detection, better treatments and more screening. Brownback said Democrats also are interested in his bill that would allow patients to store health records electronically, creating a nationwide health information network.

“We’re trying to target what we might be able to move things on,” Brownback said. “For Democrats, if they are looking to move things rather than score political points, these are some things the president would generally say yes to and we could get a bipartisan group in the Senate to support.”

Brownback will lose his chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on the Constitution, a panel he has used to draw public attention to his stand against abortion and gay marriage.

Chairman no longer

Republican Sen. Pat Roberts will be losing his high-profile position as chairman of the Intelligence Committee. He has said he hopes to complete the second phase of the review of prewar Iraq intelligence by the end of the year.

Roberts would continue to play a pivotal role on the committee if he remains as its ranking minority member. His spokeswoman, Sarah Little, said Tuesday it would be “premature to comment on committee assignments that are not expected from leadership until sometime in December.”

For Moore, bipartisanship has been his calling card since he was first elected in a Republican-leaning district that includes eastern Lawrence in 1998. He says that’s not about to change with Democrats in the majority.

“I think one of the things people in this country made clear is they would like us to work together,” Moore said.

Moore will help lead a group of fiscally conservative Democrats called the Blue Dog Coalition during the coming congressional session, as one of three co-chairpeople.

Moore said he wants to see all the proposals from the 9/11 Commission be implemented, including new passenger screening technologies, communications equipment and staffing. He also said he would push Democrats to reinstate so-called pay-as-you-go budget rules that would require any new tax cuts to be “paid for” with spending cuts or new revenues.

The absence of affordable health care remains the most important issue on Moore’s agenda. He’s the primary sponsor of a bill that would save billions of health care dollars wasted on paperwork and overhead by shifting to electronic medical records.

‘Going to be different’

Tiahrt, a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, has been successful in targeting funds to the Wichita area. He also has served as a deputy whip in the GOP leadership structure since 1997 and said he plans to continue being involved in party leadership.

Tiahrt predicted there would not be much progress on litigation reform, given the cozy relationship many Democrats have with trial lawyers.

But he is optimistic about the push to renew legislation that allows companies investing money in research and development to deduct the costs from federal income taxes.

“I’ll pursue common ground where I can find it,” Tiahrt said.

Republican Rep. Jerry Moran was traveling Tuesday and could not be reached for comment.