Archive for December, 2010

House GOP Sacrifices 76 Panel Seats, Democrats Lose Eight

Published
by
jackiefk81
on December 14, 2010
in Roll Call
. 0 Comments

By Jackie Kucinich
Roll Call Staff

House Republicans will cut 84 committee slots in the 112th Congress, but most will come from the majority side, GOP leadership sources said Tuesday.
Eight existing minority positions will be eliminated in the 112th Congress, while 76 will be cut from the majority. Although the cuts are relatively small for Democrats, they still pose a problem for outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who already must slice dozens of Members from top committees as Democrats transition into their reduced role as the minority party.
Retirements and re-election losses will do some of the paring for the California Democrat, but she will still be forced to disappoint many junior Members who supported her bid to remain as the top House Democrat, despite losing the majority in the November elections.
Because both parties will have to cut back on the size of the panels, Republicans said the majority-minority ratios will remain about the same as they were in the past two Congresses. Continue reading ‘House GOP Sacrifices 76 Panel Seats, Democrats Lose Eight’

Grass-Roots Love Protects Ron Paul

Published
by
jackiefk81
on December 13, 2010
in Profiles and Roll Call
. 0 Comments

By Jackie Kucinich
Roll Call Staff

In the House Republican Conference, Rep. Ron Paul is untouchable.
For a Member who operates as a loner and has ignored his leadership’s directives for years, the Texas Republican is given an amount of leeway rarely allocated to rank-and-file Members, let alone those who stand to hold positions of power in the House.
But most Members don’t have the massive Libertarian following Paul has maintained since his unsuccessful bid for president in 2008.
The most recent evidence of his unusual status came last week, when he was appointed chairman of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology. The subcommittee oversees Paul’s nemesis, the Federal Reserve, among other things. Continue reading ‘Grass-Roots Love Protects Ron Paul’