Tweet
Reid: Specter’s seniority will depend on Dem 'pals'
By Alexander Bolton
Posted: 05/01/09 12:15 PM [ET]
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) predicted Friday that a deal can be worked out to prevent Sen. Arlen Specter from bumping a Senate Democrat from the chairmanship of a powerful committee or subcommittee next year.
Specter, the Pennsylvania lawmaker who abandoned the Republican Party this week to become a Democrat, has set his sights on chairing the Appropriations Committee someday. He could also take over the Judiciary Committee if current chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) takes the Appropriations gavel.
Specter says that Reid has promised to let him keep the seniority he accrued as a Republican since first winning election to the Senate in 1980. This would make Specter senior to all but a few Democrats when the Senate is scheduled to next organize committee assignments. (Panel positions for the 112th Congress will be decided after the 2010 election.)
But several senior Democrats have pushed back strongly against Reid’s deal with Specter, which was negotiated in secret.
Under pressure, Reid now says it will be up to the Democratic caucus to determine whether to recognize Specter’s 28 1/2 years of seniority.
Furthermore, Reid now does not think Specter will displace any senior Democrat atop a coveted committee or subcommittee.
Reid acknowledged Friday that the question of Specter’s seniority will be up for the entire Democratic caucus to decide, not him alone as leader.
“We’re going to do as we do every new Congress and pass an organizational resolution that will determine where everybody stands and that will give him an opportunity to find out who his pals are in the Senate,” Reid said at a question-and-answer session sponsored by The National Journal Group.
Senior Democrats who could lose a plum committee or subcommittee post to Specter would almost certainly vote against granting the seniority that he would have been granted as a Democrat elected in 1980.
One senior lawmaker who spoke to The Hill on condition of anonymity said that Reid does not have the power to let Specter keep his seniority earned as a Republican.
“That can’t happen; seniority is decided by the caucus,” said the lawmaker, who said Specter’s place in the pecking order would be decided by secret ballot during the organizational meeting expected after the 2010 election.
Nevertheless, Reid continues to promise that Specter will keep his seniority, though it may be meaningless if Democrats block Specter from taking over as chairman of the Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee. The current chairman, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), won election to the Senate in 1984, four years after Specter did.
“He will maintain his overall seniority in the Senate and its pretty clear that he’s going to do that,” Reid said of Specter.
But when Ron Brownstein, political director of the Atlantic Media Company, asked whether Specter could find a home in the caucus without displacing a Democratic committee or subcommittee chairman, Reid said: “I think we can do that, yes.”
“There are many ways we can do this and he’ll be just fine,” said Reid.
Specter has expressed a more defined vision of how he will rank among fellow Democrats in seniority in 2011 and beyond.
“In discussing that issue with Sen. Reid, the fair approach which we both agreed to was to be where I would be had I been a Democrat coming into the Senate with my election in 1980. So you can take a look at the charts and figure out exactly where I'd be,” Specter told reporters Tuesday.
Specter’s standing among his Democratic colleagues may depend upon how he votes on pivotal issues such as healthcare reform, cap-and-trade legislation, and education reform.
Reid has pledged to campaign for Specter in the 2010 Pennsylvania primary, even if the maverick lawmaker bucks his new party as he has already done this week on the budget resolution.
“I don’t think the endorsement Obama, Biden or I gave was conditional,” said Reid, in reference to the president and Vice President Joe Biden.
Reid predicted that Specter “would be a lot of help to Democrats” and would have more freedom to vote with Democrats on “energy, healthcare, education.”
By Alexander Bolton
Posted: 05/01/09 12:15 PM [ET]
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) predicted Friday that a deal can be worked out to prevent Sen. Arlen Specter from bumping a Senate Democrat from the chairmanship of a powerful committee or subcommittee next year.
Specter, the Pennsylvania lawmaker who abandoned the Republican Party this week to become a Democrat, has set his sights on chairing the Appropriations Committee someday. He could also take over the Judiciary Committee if current chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) takes the Appropriations gavel.
Specter says that Reid has promised to let him keep the seniority he accrued as a Republican since first winning election to the Senate in 1980. This would make Specter senior to all but a few Democrats when the Senate is scheduled to next organize committee assignments. (Panel positions for the 112th Congress will be decided after the 2010 election.)
But several senior Democrats have pushed back strongly against Reid’s deal with Specter, which was negotiated in secret.
Under pressure, Reid now says it will be up to the Democratic caucus to determine whether to recognize Specter’s 28 1/2 years of seniority.
Furthermore, Reid now does not think Specter will displace any senior Democrat atop a coveted committee or subcommittee.
Reid acknowledged Friday that the question of Specter’s seniority will be up for the entire Democratic caucus to decide, not him alone as leader.
“We’re going to do as we do every new Congress and pass an organizational resolution that will determine where everybody stands and that will give him an opportunity to find out who his pals are in the Senate,” Reid said at a question-and-answer session sponsored by The National Journal Group.
Senior Democrats who could lose a plum committee or subcommittee post to Specter would almost certainly vote against granting the seniority that he would have been granted as a Democrat elected in 1980.
One senior lawmaker who spoke to The Hill on condition of anonymity said that Reid does not have the power to let Specter keep his seniority earned as a Republican.
“That can’t happen; seniority is decided by the caucus,” said the lawmaker, who said Specter’s place in the pecking order would be decided by secret ballot during the organizational meeting expected after the 2010 election.
Nevertheless, Reid continues to promise that Specter will keep his seniority, though it may be meaningless if Democrats block Specter from taking over as chairman of the Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee. The current chairman, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), won election to the Senate in 1984, four years after Specter did.
“He will maintain his overall seniority in the Senate and its pretty clear that he’s going to do that,” Reid said of Specter.
But when Ron Brownstein, political director of the Atlantic Media Company, asked whether Specter could find a home in the caucus without displacing a Democratic committee or subcommittee chairman, Reid said: “I think we can do that, yes.”
“There are many ways we can do this and he’ll be just fine,” said Reid.
Specter has expressed a more defined vision of how he will rank among fellow Democrats in seniority in 2011 and beyond.
“In discussing that issue with Sen. Reid, the fair approach which we both agreed to was to be where I would be had I been a Democrat coming into the Senate with my election in 1980. So you can take a look at the charts and figure out exactly where I'd be,” Specter told reporters Tuesday.
Specter’s standing among his Democratic colleagues may depend upon how he votes on pivotal issues such as healthcare reform, cap-and-trade legislation, and education reform.
Reid has pledged to campaign for Specter in the 2010 Pennsylvania primary, even if the maverick lawmaker bucks his new party as he has already done this week on the budget resolution.
“I don’t think the endorsement Obama, Biden or I gave was conditional,” said Reid, in reference to the president and Vice President Joe Biden.
Reid predicted that Specter “would be a lot of help to Democrats” and would have more freedom to vote with Democrats on “energy, healthcare, education.”
Comment