The Rev. Raphael Warnock has defeated Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Jon Ossoff has declared victory while holding a lead greater than President-elect Joe Biden’s margin of victory in Georgia. So while Republicans will likely do everything they can to drag things out before Warnock and Ossoff are seated in the Senate, Mitch McConnell’s days as majority leader are looking numbered. And that means new committee chairs.
There’s a lot to be excited about on the list of Senate Democrats in line to chair important committees, especially since Sen. Dianne Feinstein took herself out of the running for the Judiciary Committee, with Sen. Dick Durbin now in line. At the top of the list: Sen. Bernie Sanders is expected to chair the Budget Committee. Last fall, in an interview about what he’d do as committee chair, he had a simple answer: “We’d create a budget that works for working families, and not the billionaire class.”
The Banking Committee is no less exciting, with Sen. Sherrod Brown expected to take over. “First thing: We do a major emergency rental assistance. I mean it’s all about housing. The word housing has essentially been left out of that committee the last three or four years. So it’s all about that,” he told Politico in October.
At the Finance Committee, Sen. Ron Wyden told Politico he expected to focus on trying to roll back the Republican tax law, and also, “We’re going to make sure that the lesson of the Great Recession is learned—you don’t take your foot off the gas in the middle of an economic recovery.”
Vermont is expected to have another major committee chair, with Sen. Pat Leahy at the Appropriations Committee. At Homeland Security, Sen. Gary Peters, recently off a narrow reelection, is in line to take charge. Also: Sen. Maria Cantwell at the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee; Sen. Tom Carper at the Environment and Public Works Committee; and Sen. Patty Murray at the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
Anything would be an upgrade from the Republican nightmares currently leading many of these committees, and of course not every Democrat in line for a committee chair is the absolute best the party has to offer. Plus it would be very nice if there was a little more diversity heading the most important committees. But there are some pretty amazing things here.
Elections have consequences.