I am going to do a little exercise. I am going to show you who the top four members (by seniority) are in the Senate for each and every committee. As you will see, several members are in line to chair more than one committee. No Senator will chair more than one committee, so figuring out who will chair what gets a little complicated. Lieberman provides a little problem, so I will discuss that too. And then there is the problem of so many Senators that are planning on running for President (which will make chairing committees problematic, to say the least). So, go below the fold for the results and my analysis.
Aging
Herbert Kohl- Chairman
Ron Wyden
Blanche Lincoln
Evan Bayh
Agriculture
Tom Harkin- Chairman
Patrick Leahy
Kent Conrad
Max Baucus
Appropriations
Robert Byrd- Chairman
Daniel Inouye
Patrick Leahy
Tom Harkin
Armed Services
Carl Levin- Chairman
Edward Kennedy
Robert Byrd
Joe Lieberman
Banking
Christopher Dodd- Chairman
Tim Johnson
Jack Reed
Charles Schumer
Budget
Kent Conrad- Chairman
Patty Murray
Ron Wyden
Russ Feingold
Commerce
Daniel Inouye- Chairman
Jay Rockefeller
John Kerry
Byron Dorgan
Energy
Jeff Bingaman- Chairman
Daniel Akaka
Byron Dorgan
Ron Wyden
Environment
Max Baucus (chair of Finance)
Joe Lieberman (chair of Homeland Security)
Barbara Boxer- Chairwoman
Tom Carper
Ethics
Tim Johnson- Co-Chairman
Mark Pryor
Ken Salazar
Finance
Max Baucus- Chairman
Jay Rockefeller
Kent Conrad
Jeff Bingaman
Foreign Relations
Joe Biden- Chairman
Christopher Dodd
John Kerry
Russ Feingold
Health, Education, Labor & Pensions
Edward Kennedy- Chairman
Christopher Dodd
Tom Harkin
Barbara Mikulski
Homeland Security & Government Affairs
Joe Lieberman- Chairman
Carl Levin
Daniel Akaka
Tom Carper
Indian Affairs
Byron Dorgan- Chairman
Daniel Inouye
Kent Conrad
Daniel Akaka
Intelligence
Jay Rockefeller- Chairman
Carl Levin
Diane Feinstein
Ron Wyden
Judiciary
Patrick Leahy- Chairman
Edward Kennedy
Joe Biden
Herbert Kohl
Rules
Christopher Dodd (chair of Banking)
Robert Byrd (chair of Appropriations)
Daniel Inouye (chair of Commerce)
Diane Feinstein- Chairwoman
Small Business
John Kerry- Chairman
Tom Harkin
Joe Lieberman
Mary Landrieu
Veteran’s Affairs
Daniel Akaka- Chairman
Jay Rockefeller
Patty Murray
Barack Obama
Now, on Lieberman:
We don’t really mind Lieberman chairing a committee on Homeland Security. The problem is that the committee is also in charge of Governmental Affairs. It’s the equivalent of the Government Reform committee in the House and it should be investigating things like war profiteering. We really don’t want Joe to be chairing that committee. Yet, we can’t antagonize him too much or he might bolt the party and turn our 51-49 majority into a 50-50 split, with ties broken by the Vice-President. So, here is what I suggest doing.
Respect Joe’s seniority. But offer him the chairmanship of the Environment committee. Joe is in line to chair that committee anyway because Max Baucus would much rather chair the Finance Committee. If Joe accepts this, who would be in line for the Homeland Security chair? Well, that would be Carl Levin, but he will want to chair Armed Services. Next in line is Daniel Akaka. He is in line to chair Veteran’s Affairs, but he would much rather have Homeland Security.
Okay, you ask, but then who would be in line to chair Veteran’s Affairs? The answer is Jay Rockefeller. But he would rather have Intelligence. That leaves it to Patty Murray. So, this is how I envision the committee chairs looking in the Senate:
- Aging: Herbert Kohl- Chairman
Agriculture:Tom Harkin- Chairman
Appropriations: Robert Byrd- Chairman
Armed Services: Carl Levin- Chairman
Banking: Christopher Dodd- Chairman
Budget: Kent Conrad- Chairman
Commerce: Daniel Inouye- Chairman
Energy: Jeff Bingaman- Chairman
Environment: Joe Lieberman- Chairman
Ethics: Tim Johnson- Co-Chairman
Finance: Max Baucus- Chairman
Foreign Relations: Joe Biden- Chairman
Health, Education, Labor & Pensions: Edward Kennedy- Chairman
Homeland Security & Government Affairs: Daniel Akaka- Chairman
Indian Affairs: Byron Dorgan- Chairman
Intelligence: Jay Rockefeller- Chairman
Judiciary: Patrick Leahy- Chairman
Rules: Diane Feinstein- Chairwoman
Small Business: John Kerry- Chairman
Veteran’s Affairs: Patty Murray- Chairwoman
We have a number of new Senators: Brown, Cardin, Casey, Klobuchar, McCaskill, Sanders, Tester, Webb, and Whitehouse. I’d like to see Klobuchar on Judiciary. Other than that, I’m open to suggestions on where other members should be assigned.
How many of the committee chairs are running for President? Three. And that might effect assignments. Here’s the list:
Dodd: Banking
Biden: Foreign Relations
Kerry: Small Business
What say you?
Help me out here. I need a civics lesson. Isn’t Feingold on the Judiciary committee? Is he not on your list because he is not one of the top four with seniority? Do the Senators get to change committee assignments after each election? Do they have any say as to where they go or are the just assigned?
I don’t see either Durbin or Reid listed. Are they excluded from committee membership because of their leadership roles?
all your guesses are correct. Reid is on Appropriations and Durbin is on Judiciary and that is it. Feingold is a low ranking member of Judicary.
Members can and do move. Younger members get stuck with shit like Aging and Ethics.
Thanks. You are a fount of erudition.
Is it just me or does it seem sort of parodic that the senate (derived originally from the Latin “senex,” elder or old man) and filled with a bunch of oldsters, has an “aging committee”? I’d think calling it the demographics committee or census committee or just about anything else would be better…
Brown – Agriculture, Rules, Foreign Relations
Cardin – Commerce, Environment, Finance
Casey – Budget, Homeland Security and Government Affairs
Klobuchar – Agriculture, Foreign Relations, Appropriations
McCaskill – HELP, Small Business, Homeland Security
Sanders – Judiciary, Energy, Intelligence
Tester – Appropriations, Environment, Indian Affairs
Webb – Armed Services, Veterans Affairs, Finance
Whitehouse – Small Business, Judiciary, Commerce
Well, I’m for antagonizing Joe and stripping him of his seniority, and after that, I’m for punishing him by sticking him on a committee he doesn’t really want. But in terms of the actual politics of it, do we really believe Joe is going to take the Chair of Environment when he feels entitled to Homeland Security? Seems very, very unlikely coming from the guy who felt so entitled he created a Joe for Joe party following his primary loss.
Traitor Joe will not settle for less.
In addition to covering the Cheney admin’s collective ass, this committee hands out lots of pork, and Traitor Joe’s the greediest bastard of the lot.
More interesting to speculate on Byrd’s near-term role and replacement – the dude is just too old to live through his term.
Ted Kennedy at Health offers a glimmer of hope.
Given a choice between Homeland security, and environment, which do you think Lieberman would take? I can tell you which one he’ll take, homeland security. In fact Harry Reid called him today and told him that his chairmanship of homeland security is waiting next year. Also, Susan Collins, the former chairperson to be said tonight that Lieberman will chair homeland security.
When one party created all the problems, and still has veto power, sometimes all you can do is scream at them.
Sometimes it’s your constitutional duty to scream at them.
Scream away if you must, but the country isn’t going to benefit if that’s all you do.
as Environment chair would be the lesser of many evils, but I hate that it would deny Barbara Boxer a chairpersonship (that’s an awkward word!) after all she’s done…and having a California senator as head of Environment would be very appropriate.
Oh well…them’s politics, I guess…
I feel the same way, but Joe is really a bit of a problem, and if we can solve it this way it would be a decent outcome.
Lieberman should be put in charge of Veterans Affairs. That’s going to be as critical as Homeland Security. It will allow him to take responsibility for the consequences of his mistakes.
And make sure that Tammy Duckworth is on the staff of the committee.
WHat I was thinking too.
What do you do for Barbara? She’s been a true leader, with the occasional hiccup cough*lamont*cough. Overall though doesn’t she deserve a leadership role? I think so.
I would stack the Judiciary committee with as many liberals as possible to ensure no nut job SCOTUS pick gets favorably approved. Webb is an obvious choice to go to Armed Services.McCaskill and /or Tester to Ag,Brown to Intellegence,Sanders to Homeland Security.
Webb would also be the obvious choice to go to Veterans.