From Roll Call (subscription only), we learn that Joe Lieberman may get to keep his chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs.
With President-elect Obama’s fingerprints seemingly everywhere, momentum appears to be building among Senate Democrats to let Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn.) keep his chairmanship of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
“The overall atmosphere is toward reconciliation,” said one Lieberman supporter, who noted that Obama “has in a large sense set the tone” by calling for Lieberman to remain a member of the Senate Democratic Conference.
Yet, it seems likely that Lieberman will suffer some form of punishment.
However, Democrats still say they are exploring options for penalizing Lieberman in other ways for his disloyalty to the party during the 2008 election cycle. Those options might include stripping him of two plum subcommittee chairmanships, or taking away his membership on either the Armed Services or Environment and Public Works panels.
Lieberman’s two subcommittee chairs are on the Armed Services’ Subcommittee on Airland and the Environment & Public Works’ Subcommittee on Private Sector and Consumer Solutions to Global Warming and Wildlife Protection. Stripping him of one or both of these chairs would be something, but not much. The biggest concern I have about Joe Lieberman is something I haven’t seen anyone else talking about. Take a look at the Democratic seniority list of the full Armed Services committee.
Member Name
Carl Levin (D-MI) [Chair]
Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA)
Robert C. Byrd (D-WV)
Joseph I. Lieberman (ID-CT)
Jack Reed (D-RI)
Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI)
Bill Nelson (D-FL)
Ben Nelson (D-NE)
Evan Bayh (D-IN)
Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY)
Mark Pryor (D-AR)
James Webb (D-VA)
Claire McCaskill (D-MO)
As you can see, Joe Lieberman is fourth in seniority on the Armed Services committee. But Teddy Kennedy is suffering from brain cancer and will be focused on health care issues and chairing the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) committee. As for Robert Byrd, his age-related health issues led him to give up his chair on the Appropriations Committee. If anything happens to Carl Levin, Joe Lieberman will be in line to take over the chair of Armed Services. And the ranking member of that committee? John McCain.
Can you imagine a situation where Lieberman and McCain preside over Armed Services committee hearings in the Senate? I can’t. That’s why I would prefer the punishment for Lieberman to be full removal from the Armed Services committee (which would obviously cost him his chair of the Airland Subcommittee).
I don’t trust Lieberman to preside over our Homeland Security or to be a good watchdog on government affairs. I’d strip him of all chairs, take away his seniority, and disallow from attending strategy sessions. But if you give me the option of leaving him as chair of Homeland Security or leaving him in position to take over Armed Services, I’d leave him as chair of Homeland Security. Just something to think about.
