Almost two weeks ago, I offered Cory Booker some career advice based on what I surmised his committee assignments were likely to be. I got two out of three correct. He will be serving on both the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee and the Small Business Committee. However, he avoided the the Homeland Security & Government Oversight Committee and landed a slot on the Environment & Public Works Committee. That’s a better slot for him.
He will be getting to know about Louisiana, as Sen. Mary Landrieu chairs the Small Business Committee and Sen. David Vitter is the ranking member of the Environment Committee. He should also get used to working with Barbara Boxer, as she chairs the Environment Committee and has the seniority to take over the Commerce Committee when Jay Rockefeller retires at the beginning of 2015.
As I pointed out in my earlier piece, the Commerce Committee is a good place for a New Jersey senator to get started. He will be working on surface transportation, oceans (including the Merchant Marine and Coast Guard), airports, science, and the internet. He will also have the opportunity to serve on the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance, which could give him an opening to do some of the same work that has made Elizabeth Warren so beloved by the left.
Booker will have an opportunity to learn from Senate veterans Jay Rockefeller (chair of Commerce), Carl Levin (Small Business), and Max Baucus (Environment) for a little over a year before they all retire. Besides Sen. Vitter, he will be working with Sen. John Thune of South Dakota (ranking member of Commerce) and Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho (ranking member of Small Business).
His committee assignments are solid, but they won’t offer him much of a high profile. There is almost no news coverage on the work these committees do. The Small Business Committee offers the fastest track to a chairmanship because it has high turnover. It basically serves as a starting place for new senators until they can land spots on more powerful and consequential committees, so if you stick with it you can quickly gain seniority.
On the other hand, based on his stated goals, I think Booker’s top priority should be to land a seat on the Judiciary Committee as soon as possible. There are no obvious retirements on that committee, however, so it may not happen before the 2016 elections when the Democrats may gain enough seats to justify a better ratio of seats.
In any case, he now knows what cast of characters he will be working with and who he needs to build relationships with in order to get things done.
I was upset that his first vote was a failed attempt to get cloture for a vote on the confirmation of Rep. Mel Watt to serve as the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. While the job isn’t technically a Cabinet position, the last time a sitting member of Congress was denied a position in the Cabinet was in 1843. Unsurprisingly, Rep. Caleb Cushing of Massachusetts was denied a chance to serve as Treasury Secretary in President Tyler’s administration because he opposed slavery. At the time, I suspect that Mel Watt’s ancestors were enslaved in North Carolina. I am troubled that Cory Booker was welcomed to the Senate with a filibuster of a black nominee who is fully qualified for the position he was nominated to serve in. But it did have some kind of poetic justice. Booker should have no illusions about who he will be dealing with.