Congressional committees: did the cardinals blink?
Congressional Quarterly reports that, breaking a three-week deadlock:
Senate Appropriations Chairman Thad Cochran will recommend Wednesday a proposal to his panel members that would more closely align the committee’s structure with its recently streamlined House counterpart.
The House reduced the number of its Appropriations subcommittees from 13 to 10. The move consolidated power among subcommittee chairmen, or “cardinals.” But shrinking the number of prized subcommittee chairmanships has been among the sticking points for the plan in the Senate.
“I’ve got my chair already.”
Nevertheless, there are early signs that Cochran, who will propose eliminating only one subcommittee, could get more support this time around.
Guess who loses this game of musical chairs?
“Now, who gets NASA?”
The proposal would eliminate the VA-HUD Subcommittee, shifting:
· Veterans’ programs to the Military Construction Subcommittee
· Housing programs to the Transportation-Treasury Subcommittee
· NASA programs to the Commerce-Justice-State Subcommittee, according to Senate GOP aides.
Transportation-Treasury is where the House sent HUD, so this would align nicely with the House. It would also address the concerns of one very important Senator:
A major obstacle in the Senate has been the prospect of Christopher S. Bond, R-Mo., losing his VA-HUD subcommittee chairmanship.
The GOP moves could set the stage for Bond to take the helm at a restructured Transportation-Treasury Subcommittee with responsibility for housing programs.
Can an elephant purr? This sounds like it:
“We’ll see what comes available,” Bond said. “Nothing’s set yet.”
