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Changes In Congressional Leadership

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Anonymous

Guest
Kennedy's Death Leaves HELP Committee Chairmanship Vacant

Ted Kennedy's death creates a vacancy at the top of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee, which he previously chaired. Next in line is Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT). However, to take this chairmanship, Dodd would have to resign as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. So he has to choose which committee he wants to run.

His choice is complicated by his own electoral predicament. His approval rating in Connecticut has fallen in recent months due to a widespread perception that he hasn't come down very hard on the bankers who caused the economic crisis, and has done nothing to reign in outlandlish salaries. Many people feel that having the taxpayers give hundreds of billions of dollars to the banks and then have them spend billions to give bonuses to the bozos whose incompetence caused the crisis is intolerable. It is one thing to lavishly reward successful executives for outstanding performance but something else to reward them equally well with taxpayers' money for abject failure. As a consequence of Dodd's lack of action, he is facing his first serious election challenge in 2010, possibly from former representative Rob Simmons (R), although Simmons will face several primary opponents. And Dodd has been in the news for getting a sweetheart deal on a mortgage from a company his committee oversees, although the Ethics Committee has cleared him of any wrongdoing. In addition, Dodd has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

As a result of all this, Dodd may prefer running the HELP committee, which will allow him to take credit for a successful health insurance reform bill although he will have to butt heads with Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which is drawing up its own bill. Dodd is fairly liberal and Baucus is fairly conservative so it would be a bad start for Dodd to lose his first fight as HELP chairman.

If Dodd indeed chooses for HELP, Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD) is next in line to chair the Banking committee. However, Johnson suffered a cerebral hemorrhage in Dec. 2006 and may not feel up to the job of taking on the banking industry. If he wants the job, majority leader Harry Reid said he can have it. However, if Johnson declines, next is line is Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), one of the most liberal members of the Senate and someone who might well take on the banking industry.

Of course, Dodd also has the option of staying put at the Banking committee. If he does that, then next in line at HELP is Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA). But to accept that chairmanship, Harkin would have to give up his chairmanship of the Agriculture Committee, something he would be hesitant to do given the importance of agriculture in his home state of Iowa. If he passes, the new HELP chairman would be Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), a feisty liberal from Maryland. So depending on what Dodd, Johnson, and Harkin do, we could have quite a different lineup in the Senate shortly.
 

woranch

Well-known member
Dodd has to be relected first..


Sen. Christopher J. Dodd is still behind Republican Rob Simmons in the latest Quinnipiac University poll by nine points.


He's playing a leading role in the health care negotiations. But if the election was held today, Chris Dodd would be looking for work. A new Quinnipiac poll shows the Connecticut senator and former presidential candidate trailing former Rep. Rob Simmons, the likely Republican nominee, in his bid for a sixth term.

General Election Matchups
Simmons 48 (+5 from May)
Dodd 39 (unch)
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Industry News - AM
Senate Ag committee changes leadership

By Rita Jane Gabbett on 9/10/2009

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) has accepted the chairmanship of the Senate Agriculture Committee, replacing Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) who will succeed the late Sen. Edward Kennedy as chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), the senators announced.

"Of course agriculture will always be a key interest to my home state of Iowa, so I intend to remain a member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, a committee I have been on since I first joined the Senate in 1985," Harkin said in a statement. He chaired the committee through both the 2002 and 2007 farm bills.

Lincoln, who is up for reelection next year, has been on the Senate Agriculture Committee since she joined the Senate in 1998. She defended farm subsidies during last year's farm bill debate. In 2004 she founded the bipartisan Senate Hunger Caucus.

"With such priorities as child nutrition reauthorization, farm bill implementation, and regulation of commodities, the committee has a full plate," Lincoln said in a statement.

Harkin move good for industry

Harkin's move to the HELP committee could be good for the food production industry.

"He'd be in control of an arguably more powerful committee which wrestles with all things FDA and food safety and with labor issues, such as the Employee Free Choice Act," wrote Steve Kopperud, senior vice president, Policy Directions, Inc. in his blog on the Brownfield Network.

"From a production and processing standpoint, it would be a very good thing for farmers, ranchers and industry to have someone who has an intuitive understanding of production agriculture leading and guiding the debate among his more urban peers," he added.
 

badaxemoo

Well-known member
Oldtimer said:
Industry News - AM
Senate Ag committee changes leadership

By Rita Jane Gabbett on 9/10/2009

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) has accepted the chairmanship of the Senate Agriculture Committee, replacing Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) who will succeed the late Sen. Edward Kennedy as chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), the senators announced.

"Of course agriculture will always be a key interest to my home state of Iowa, so I intend to remain a member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, a committee I have been on since I first joined the Senate in 1985," Harkin said in a statement. He chaired the committee through both the 2002 and 2007 farm bills.

Lincoln, who is up for reelection next year, has been on the Senate Agriculture Committee since she joined the Senate in 1998. She defended farm subsidies during last year's farm bill debate. In 2004 she founded the bipartisan Senate Hunger Caucus.

"With such priorities as child nutrition reauthorization, farm bill implementation, and regulation of commodities, the committee has a full plate," Lincoln said in a statement.

Harkin move good for industry

Harkin's move to the HELP committee could be good for the food production industry.

"He'd be in control of an arguably more powerful committee which wrestles with all things FDA and food safety and with labor issues, such as the Employee Free Choice Act," wrote Steve Kopperud, senior vice president, Policy Directions, Inc. in his blog on the Brownfield Network.

"From a production and processing standpoint, it would be a very good thing for farmers, ranchers and industry to have someone who has an intuitive understanding of production agriculture leading and guiding the debate among his more urban peers," he added.

Having Harkin on Health will be good for food issues related to health.

But having Lincoln on Ag could be a disaster.

She has been a strong opponent of subsidy reform and I'm sure the Farm Bureau is thrilled with getting rid of Harkin.
 
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