Liberals line up for leadership of key committees

A shake-up of committee chairmanships is clearing the way for a more liberal, Democrat-led Congress to work with President-elect Barack Obama as he strives to turn key campaign promises into policy.

Senate Democratic leaders are poised to replace the chairmen of the Appropriations and Homeland Security committees with more-liberal members. Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, one of the chamber’s most liberal members, meanwhile, is expected to be replaced as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee by one of several senators with solidly liberal voting records.

On the other side of the Capitol, Rep. Henry A. Waxman of California is trying to wrest control of the Energy and Commerce Committee from Rep. John D. Dingell. The Michigan Democrat’s close ties to automakers and the utilities have put him at odds with the party’s liberal leadership - including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California - over climate-change initiatives such as higher fuel efficiency standards for cars and caps on carbon emissions.

Mr. Waxman tallied an 84.5 percent liberal voting record compared with Mr. Dingell’s 73.5 percent rating, as calculated by National Journal’s vote rankings for 2007.

The Californian also has a reputation as a fierce partisan and spent the past two years running the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee as it pummeled the Bush administration with inquests into its conduct of the Iraq war, White House political operations and regulatory failures behind the financial collapse.

Mr. Dingell, pressing fellow Democrats to support him, cited Mrs. Pelosi’s remark that “the country must be governed from the middle.”

He sent Mr. Obama a letter, which his committee released Tuesday, pleading the case that he would be an eager partner in implementing the universal health care plan on which the senator from Illinois campaigned.

“I am eager to work with you to make this happen, and I appreciate that your transition team has been in contact with my staff to chart the path forward,” Mr. Dingell said. “We share common ground on key principles for reforming the nation’s healthcare system.”

Nevertheless, getting him out of the way could help advance Mr. Obama’s agenda on energy and climate change.

Each of the committees in question will be at the center of the Obama administration’s plans to reshape the federal government, take over the war on terror, reshape diplomatic relations and confront climate change.

After weeks of speculation that Senate Democratic leaders were pressuring 90-year-old Sen. Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia - the longest-serving senator in U.S. history - to step down as chairman of the Appropriations Committee, he gave up the post Friday. The move made room for Sen. Daniel K. Inouye of Hawaii to climb into the top spot.

Mr. Inouye, 84, chalked up a 71.7 percent liberal voting record last year in National Journal’s score, compared with Mr. Byrd’s 64.3 percent liberal rating.

“A new day has dawned in Washington, and that is a good thing,” Mr. Byrd said in explaining his decision to make way for Mr. Inouye. “For my part, I believe that it is time for a new day at the top of the Senate Appropriations Committee.”

On the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut is desperately clinging to the chairmanship as a growing chorus of Democratic calls for his ouster.

If he loses the post, each of his likely successors will have a more liberal voting record than Mr. Lieberman’s 57.5 percent National Journal rating.

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