The return of two Senate committee chairmen from the presidential campaign trail could provide a boost to legislation within their purview and make life somewhat easier for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Democrats Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, chairman of the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, dropped out of the race for the White House Thursday night after winning only 23 and 1 of the state delegates, respectively.

They will have just over two weeks to recuperate and redirect their energies to the unfinished business in their jurisdictions. The Senate reconvenes Jan. 22, and both chairmen will have plenty to do thereafter.

Topping the list for Dodd is a sweeping modernization of the Federal Housing Administration (S 2338) that the White House has embraced as its preferred legislative response to the ongoing housing crisis. The Senate passed the bill, which Dodd sponsored, by 93-1 on Dec. 14, just days before the first session ended. The House passed its own, very different version (HR 1852). That could presage a difficult conference negotiation, one that will require Dodd’s personal involvement and attention.

In committee, Dodd is expected to take up a major overhaul of the nation’s mortgage regulations (S 2452) that he introduced Dec. 12.

The bill would establish minimum standards for subprime mortgages, including a requirement that lenders demonstrate that prospective borrowers have the ability to repay loans. It also would place some liability on investors who bought securities backed by subprime loans.

House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., shepherded a similar bill (HR 3915) through the House in November. Both bills are aimed at restricting aggressive lending practices in the subprime mortgage market that placed hundreds of thousands of borrowers into adjustable rate loans that they couldn’t afford once rates reset to much higher levels.

Although Democratic lawmakers may be eager to clear legislation to clean up the subprime market, the slim margin in their Senate majority will remain an obstacle. For example, Dodd will likely have to win support from Sen. Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, the ranking Republican on the Banking Committee, who generally favors free-market solutions over increased regulation.

Reauthorizing the federal flood insurance program is another Dodd priority. The Banking Committee approved legislation (S 2284) in October that would reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program through 2013. The bill awaits Senate floor action.

The measure does not include optional wind-damage protection, a proposal that earned the House-passed version (HR 3121) a veto threat from the White House.

The program protects about 5.5 million property owners in case of flood damage, but it has fallen about $17.5 billion in debt because of payouts resulting from hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma in 2005.

The Senate measure includes language that would forgive that debt, which could create problems under Democratic pay-as-you-go budget rules unless the new spending is somehow offset. The House measure includes no similar language. Dodd says that forgiving the debt is critical.

Biden pledged to plunge back into his Senate work, including more efforts to bring an end to the war in Iraq. The 2008 defense authorization measure (HR 1585) that President Bush just returned to Congress contained a call for a “federalized,” decentralized government in Iraq — a plan that Biden and Leslie Gelb, former president of the Council on Foreign Relations , have long championed.

“Instead of stiff-arming the rest of the world, now is the time to call for a UN conference where the major powers and Iraq’s neighbors help Iraqis to hammer out a political solution based on federalism – bringing resources and responsibility down to the local and regional level,” Biden said last week.

“I am not going away,” said Biden, who has also been mentioned as a potential secretary of State in a Democratic administration.

Biden has also sought a role in resolving the ongoing crisis in Pakistan. After President Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency there in November, Biden called Musharraf to warn him against further erosion of democratic institutions. He unsuccessfully urged that free elections continue on schedule (they have been postponed after the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto).

He also has backed a large boost in non-military aid, and conditions on U.S. military aid based on success against terrorists. “Ten billion dollars later, Pakistan remains the central base of Al Qaeda operations. We must strike a much better bargain,” Biden said in November.

The Foreign Relations Committee this year must reauthorize President Bush’s Emergency Plan to Fight AIDS. In a list of priorities, the committee also cited the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Darfur and international climate change issues stemming from last month’s conference in Bali.

In November, the panel approved the Law of the Sea Treaty, a 1982 agreement that the Bush administration and the military, along with most Democrats, supports. Strong opposition from some GOP conservatives, however, means that taking it to the floor would require a significant effort.

Ranking Republican Richard G. Lugar of Indiana remains interested in nuclear disarmament and overhaul of the State Department and foreign aid agencies.

The panel also must reauthorize the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, whose authority expires at the end of April.

Reid, as majority leader, always has difficulty scheduling floor votes at times that will permit maximum attendance by his colleagues. With just a 51-49 operational edge in the Senate, Democrats cannot afford to have members absent for key votes.

Even with Biden and Dodd back in Washington, Reid will still have to worry about the campaign absences of Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., when he schedules floor votes, but his task will be marginally easier.

During the first session, the Senate’s presidential candidates, including Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., missed scores of votes.

McCain participated in only 44 percent of the roll call votes held in 2007, the lowest score of any Republican senator.

Biden and Dodd, at 61 percent and 62 percent, ranked below all other Democratic senators in voting participation except Tim Johnson, D-S.D., who spent most of the year recuperating from a near-fatal brain hemorrhage.

Obama tied with Dodd at 62 percent, while Clinton participated in 77 percent of the Senate’s roll call votes — the best record of the presidential contenders.

John Cranford contributed to this story.

First posted Jan. 4, 2008 11:40 a.m.