Reid has just issued a statement:
"Today Senator Lieberman and I had the first of what I expect to be several conversations. No decisions have been made. While I understand that Senator Lieberman has voted with Democrats a majority of the time, his comments and actions have raised serious concerns among many in our caucus. I expect there to be additional discussions in the days to come, and Senator Lieberman and I will speak to our caucus in two weeks to discuss further steps."
I'm not sure if Reid could unilaterally strip Lieberman of his committee leadership position, but apparently these are decisions that are made by the Democrat's Steering Committee, which includes the following members:
Stabenow
Kerry
Harkin
Baucus
Inouye
Conrad
Byrd
Levin
Kennedy
Kohl
Wyden
Boxer
Bingaman
Leahy
Clinton
We've got several potential allies on that commitee. Levin would helm the committee if Lieberman were stripped, so hopefully he's with us. However, note that with several key committee chairmanships opening up or potentially opening up (i.e. Biden, Byrd, Kennedy, etc), the musical chairs we're liable to see will complicate things a great deal.
In any case, get ready to lobby these senators. The key isn't to push for Lieberman's ouster from the caucus. We don't need him for control of the chamber given our expanded majority, but if he's a backbencher with no authority, who cares? Let him wallow in our majority stripped of all influence. We could use his votes on important domestic policy like EFCA and whatnot, without having to deal with him becoming a fierce critic of the Obama Administration at the head of the key Homeland Security committee.
Heck, throw him a bone with a minor sub-committee chairmanship, the kind they give promising freshman senators to beef up their resumes. That way he can't cry that Democrats are throwing him off the caucus. If he wants to reject that option, and he probably would since it would kind of be an insult, then so be it. Let him reject a gracious Democratic offer, rather than the other way around.
But no committee chairmanship. Those need to be reserved for real Democrats and genuine allies.
We've got two weeks to ramp up pressure on Reid and the steering committee members.
Update: Josh Orton, who once worked for Reid:
Reid's statements about Lieberman used to imply no coming consequences, i.e. 'Joe's gone off the reservations sometimes, but...' - today's statement runs in the opposite direction: 'Joe's with us on some things, but....' Reid is obviously implying that Lieberman will be punished; just because the details weren't announced today doesn't mean nothing will happen. Rather, Reid is likely working through the Senate mechanisms behind-the-scenes: walking through the complex process of Chairmanship 'musical chairs' that Ari describes here, estimating how many Dems we'll actually have in our caucus, and speaking with all of Lieberman's allies in the Dem caucus so no one goes off the reservation when a decision is announced.
So don't misread the reality - Lieberman has very little leverage in this situation and nowhere to go. He angered Obama and Reid during the campaign, and his presidential candidate lost. So Reid is taking his time, but that shouldn't be misread as indecisiveness or inaction. It just proves how little power Lieberman now has.
Update II: Actually, Levin heads up Armed Services, so he couldn't hold both. Akaka would be next in line for Lieberman's committee.
Update III: Looking for something to do on the issue? There's a petition to the Steering and Outreach Committee at LiebermanMustGo.com that was delivered in July (with over 40,000 signatures), but which is still collecting more. -- Kagro X