Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), poised to step up as majority leader in January when the Democrats take over the House, is adjusting to his new role: Since the Democratic sweep in the Nov. 7 elections, Hoyer has had two pen-and-pad sessions, each crowded in his third-floor Capitol office. Those two briefings drew almost twice the number of reporters who showed up when Hoyer was the mere minority leader.

“I think I am going to give a badge to the faithful who were here with [me when] I was irrelevant that humored me, and I appreciate that so much,” Hoyer said as reporters scribbled down his words.

Hoyer was eyeing the scribes, looking for the diehards, the reporters who came “when I was irrelevant. I sort or kid myself that I may be relevant now.”

An understatement.

Hoyer will take over the suite once occupied by former Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas). But Hoyer does not care for DeLay’s taste in furniture. Too Victorian, Hoyer said. He will, however, take DeLay’s furnishings, which are more from the Federalist period, as well as two lamps emblazoned with “Maryland” — plus the candy dishes.

Hoyer pledged that Democrats will not shut out Republicans at conference committee meetings. House Republican leaders always put Democrats on the panels. “The problem was,” Hoyer said, “they weren’t invited to the conference. We are going to invite the Republicans. Not only will we put them on conference committee, we are going to let them come. That will be a change.”

When it comes to the Rules Committee, to be chaired by Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.), Hoyer was cautious in making promises. Slaughter complained constantly over the refusal of the GOP leaders to let Democratic initiatives through the Rules panel.

Asked whether come January the Republicans will be able to offer amendments to bills — or be shut out, like the Democrats were — Hoyer responded, “There will be opportunities. Whether there will open rules or not, we have not discussed, but certainly there will be opportunities for amendments.

When it comes to the still-in-the-works Rules package, the bridge to the GOP only goes so far. Republicans will not be part of the negotiations, though their input will be welcome.

Said Hoyer: “We will be discussing; negotiating may imply something that may not be true. We think we have been given a responsibility. We intend to meet that responsibility. We would like to have the participation and cooperation of our Republican colleagues, so certainly we are going to discuss it with them. I think negotiation might not be necessarily, however, what we have in mind.’’

I asked Hoyer if there will be a “new day’’ in the Rules Committee, given all the complaints Slaughter has catalogued through the years about GOP rules that limited debate and strangled amendments. (In the first session of the 109th Congress there were 77 rules, excluding conference reports; 22 were closed, 43 restricted and only 12 open, according to Slaughter.)

“We intend to have a Rules Committee and Mrs. Slaughter leading the Rules Committee that gives opposition voices and alternative proposals the ability to be heard and considered on the floor of the House,’’ Hoyer said.

That’s his marker.

Sweet is the Washington bureau chief for the Chicago Sun-Times. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it