In the Senate Democratic Committee chairmanships, except in rare cases are selected by seniority. Once members reach the top of a few select committees they are apt to stay for years.
Right now there is a rare moment where as many as eight chairmanships could open up. (that assumes, as rumored, that both Byrd and Lieberman are no longer chairman of their respective committees.)
What changes are possibly in store?
First, Joe Biden will no longer chair Foreign Relations, opening up the slot for Chris Dodd. Dodd could chose to stay at banking or open up the slot, which would then go to Tim Johnson.
If Byrd leaves the Appropriations chairman’s post, Inouye (who has been in Hawaii’s Congressional Delegation since it became a state) would by seniority become chairman. This would open up the Commerce Committee where Rockefeller is next in line. Rockefeller’s departure would open up the Intelligence chairmanship for Diane Feinstein. Feinstein would leave her chairmanship of the Rules Committee and since she is followed in seniority by Byrd, Inouye and Dodd, leaving Schumer next in line to take that post.
If Lieberman is removed as Government Affairs Committee Chairman, Carl Levin is next in line, but he will probably prefer to stay at Armed Services, opening up the post for Akaka. He would step down as Chairman of the Veteran’s Affairs Committee, and since Rockefeller already chairs the Commerce Committee, Patty Murray is next in line.
Since that is such a mouthful here is a little chart:
Approps: Byrd, Inouye
Banking: Dodd, Johnson
Commerce: Inouye, Rockefeller
Foreign Relations: Biden, Dodd
Intelligence: Rockefeller, Feinstein,
Government Affairs: Lieberman, Levin, Akaka
Rules: Feinstein, Byrd, Inouye, Dodd, Schumer
VA: Akaka, Rockefeller, Murray,
Obviously there are a lot of moving pieces on the board. Dodd for example, could decide to stay at Banking in the midst of the financial crisis leaving Foreign Relations to John Kerry. This would open up the small business committee where Levin, Harkin, and Lieberman are next in line, leaving the Chairman’s post to Landrieu.
These changes will be worked out during the next few weeks as the Senate probably cannot set the committee ratios until the remaining elections are decided.
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Do we really want Toobz Ted Steven’s BFF as Appropriations chair? He’s not much younger than Byrd AND with his supporting of his BFF, he hasn’t done many more favors for the Ds than Short Ride.
And I think it might wind up making the Ds look bad in the long run as Inouye is probably a similar pork-meister as Toobz.
Just not a good idea IMNSVHO
Why are they pulling Byrd? Age? Then what is the rationale for putting Inouye as head of appropriations, then?
I suspect that Inouye won’t have much association with Senator Stevens much longer though. 20% of Alaskas votes remained to be counted and the vast majority were coming from the heavily Democratic districts in the state.
My druthers would be that Dodd stay in banking, with Kerry as Chair of Foreign Relations. Getting Rockefeller out of Intelligence would be a good thing, as much as I dislike the oily DiFi.
It’ll be interesting to see who the Republicans have left over to fill their matching committee posts.
Inouye is HORRIBLE!!! The reason he + Toobz are such great friends is that their joint goal in life is getting more swag for their states.
Inouye is NOT a “we’re all in this together” guy. Rather, “my, me, mine, and get-the-f*** out of my way at the trough.”
Despite this, Hawaii is #49 in education, right down there with those beacons of intellectualism, AL & MS. Perhaps that’s WHY they keep electing this toad.