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New Committee Chairmen Announced
The Page by Mark Halperin — ... Among them, John Kerry to replace Joe Biden as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, while Dianne Feinstein is set to head Intelligence Committee. Read about the rest here.       ...

New Committee Chairmen Announced
The Page by Mark Halperin — ... John Kerry is set to replace Joe Biden as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, while Dianne Feinstein will head Intelligence Committee. Read about the rest here. Plus: ...

ThinkFast: December 16, 2008
Think Progress — ... Senate Majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced committee chairmanships for the next Congress yesterday. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) will lead Intelligence, Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI) will lead Appropriations, while Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) will take over for Vice President-elect Biden as head of Foreign Relations. See a complete list of committee assignments ...

The Early Word: Cabinet Filling Up
The Caucus — ... has yet to be made. Ever since the country’s founding, prosecutors, defense lawyers and juries have been trying to define the difference between criminality and political deal-making. They have never established a clear-cut line between the offensive and the illegal, and the hours of wiretapped conversations involving Mr. Blagojevich, filled with crass, profane talk about benefiting from the Senate vacancy, may fall into a legal gray area. On the Hill The Washington Post’s Paul Kane reports that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid named the chairmen of key committees yesterday, ...

As John Kerry assumes the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he flashes back to his first contact with the committee
DownWithTyranny! — ... We'll continue our two-part update on 2010 Senate races -- with Senate Guru's report on the Missouri race -- in the next post. For now, let's return to the Senate that goes into action next month. Yesterday Majority Leader Harry Reid submitted his list of proposed chairmanships, and despite the large number of major changes, there were no surprises. However, our friend Bob Geiger (as we often note, one of the really good people) has a special take, on his blog ...

New Sherrif Time: Obama Shakes Up The Senate
Firedoglake — ... The musical chairs began when Democratic leadership decided the Senate Appropriations Committee, which is in charge of disbursing more than $1 trillion a year in federal spending, was too important to be chaired by the 91 year-old Robert Byrd (who was sending his aides to the meetings he didn't sleep through).  But they observed those august rules of Senate seniority and replaced him with the largely ineffectual Daniel Inouye, 84, so that hardly signaled radical change. ...

Jane Hamsher: Obama's Savvy Choice Of Panetta Shakes Up Stagnant Senate
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... The musical chairs began when Democratic leadership decided the Senate Appropriations Committee, which is in charge of disbursing more than $1 trillion a year in federal spending, was too important to be chaired by the 91 year-old Robert Byrd (who was sending his aides to the meetings he didn't sleep through).  But they observed those august rules of Senate seniority and replaced him with the largely ineffectual Daniel Inouye, 84, so that hardly signaled radical change. ...