|
by BooMan
What would the Senate look like if the Democrats took it over? I have tried to figure it out. To do so, I analyzed the current committee positions of every Democrat, and the background of the most likely new Democrats that would be part of a takeover. For the purposes of my study I made the following optimistic assumptions:
1. That Robert Menendez will hold his seat in NJ. If all that happens, the Democrats will have a 51-48 advanatage with Bernie Sanders in our caucus. I still have hopes for Pederson in Arizona and Carter in Nevada, but I did not include them. My methodology assumes that no Senator can be the head of two committees at the same time. This required some adjustments. Max Baucus is the ranking member on both Finance and Environment. I gave him Finance. That elevated Barbara Boxer to the chairperson position on Environment. Paul Sarbanes is the ranking member on Banking. He is retiring. That elevated Chris Dodd to the ranking member. He is also the ranking member on Rules. I gave him banking and elevated Diane Feinstein to the chairperson on Rules. Joe Lieberman is the ranking member on Homeland Security. The next is line is Carl Levin. He has Armed Services. I left him there. After him comes Daniel Akaka who is the ranking member on Veteran's Affairs. I left him with Veteran's Affairs and elevated the next in line, Tom Carper, to chair Homeland Security. All other committees simply flipped from the current Republican to the current ranking Democrat. For all the new Democratic chairpersons I list the Republican they will be replacing. Taking a quick look at my work it seems obvious that the most glaring advantages and dramatic improvements will be made in the Judiciary, and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committees. According to my projections, three Senators will acquire committees who are not even ranking members at the moment. Two of them are women. Check out my handywork below the fold and tell me what you think, and how it bodes for the country. All committees are listed in terms of seniority. And, in so far as possible (excepting committee chairs) I have aimed to have each Senator sit on at least 4 committees. Evan Bayh currently sits on six. He is the hardest working member of Congress. True freshman are bolded.
AGEING (11 members, no subcommittees):
Chairperson: Herbert Kohl- WI (Gordon Smith- OR) AGRICULTURE (11 members, 4 subcommittees)
Chairperson: Tom Harkin- IA (Saxby Chambliss- GA) Appropriations (15 members, 12 subcommittees)
Chairperson: Robert Byrd- WV (Thad Cochran- MS) ARMED SERVICES (13 members, 6 subcommittees)
Chairperson: Carl Levin- MI (John Warner- VA) BANKING (11 members, 5 subcommittees)
Chairperson: Chris Dodd- CT (Richard Shelby- AL) BUDGET (12 members, 0 subcommittees)
Chairperson: Kent Conrad- ND (Judd Gregg- NH) COMMERCE (12 members, 9 subcommittees)
Chairperson: Daniel Inouye- HI (Ted Stevens- AK) ENERGY (12 members, 4 subcommittees)
Chairperson: Jeff Bingaman- NM (Pete Domenici- NM) ENVIRONMENT (10 members, 4 subcommittees)
Chairperson: Barbara Boxer- CA (James Inhofe- OK) ETHICS (3 members from each side, 0 subcommittees)
Co-chairperson: Tim Johnson- SD (co-chair George Voinovich- OH) FINANCE (11 members, 5 subcommittees)
Chairperson: Max Baucus- MT (Charles Grassley- IA) FOREIGN RELATIONS (10 members, 7 subcommittees)
Chairperson: Joe Biden- DE (Richard Lugar- IN) HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR, PENSIONS (11 members, 4 subcommittees)
Chairperson: Teddy Kennedy- MA (Michael Enzi- WY) HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS (9 members, 3 subcommittees)
Chairperson: Tom Carper- DE (Susan Collins- ME) INDIAN AFFAIRS (8 members, 0 subcommittees)
Chairperson: Byron Dorgan- ND (John McCain- AZ) INTELLIGENCE (9 members, 0 subcommittees)
Chairperson: John Rockefeller- WV (Pat Roberts- KS) JUDICIARY (10 members, 8 subcommittees)
Chairperson: Patrick Leahy- VT (Arlen Specter- PA) SMALL BUSINESS (10 members, 0 subcommittees)
Chairperson: John Kerry- MA (Trent Lott- MS) VETERAN'S AFFAIRS (8 members, 0 subcommittees)
Chairperson: Daniel Akaka- HI (Larry Craig- ID)
What if We Win the Senate? | 23 comments (23 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
What if We Win the Senate? | 23 comments (23 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
|
Login
We listened to PEN American Center's "State of Emergency" and found 1940s books by Curzio Malaparte only at Alibris
|
||||||||||
Booman Tribune Homepage admin@boomantribune.com powered by Scoop
More blogs about Blogs at Technorati.
|
||||||||||||
© 2009 Booman Tribune