I had tried everything to get RA6 and RA7 working and when they were not (by noting the lights connected to these pins were not lighting up) I started poking around first with my logic probe, and then my oscilloscope. Would you believe it? The two signals WERE coming out of the MCU to my breadboard, and through the interface chips, but not at the end of my 4 foot ribbon cable. That's right, the signals I was looking for were there, but I had a HARDWARE problem! I had tested the cable out previously, ringing it out with an ohmmeter, but by scoping it I could see the signal wasn't getting through the 16 pin ribbon connector cable. A couple quick squeezes with pliers fixed the problem.

Long time ago a colleague would use the term "check the wiring" for every little problem that came up. I laughed at him...

Thanks to those who responded. Oh, btw, I didn't need to change the config bits.