Mitch McConnell has way too much power and on some level I’d argue he has more power than the President. One man voted into office by one state. I don’t understand how this allowable in this country. I realize he’s just the current politician in that position, but I wouldn’t agree with it even if he was on my team. I think the whole reason it's allowed to continue is because Democrats hope they will eventually have that seat of power to also abuse. I think this matters even more than whoever the current President is. It’s an abuse of power that shouldn’t exist.
Yeah and the Democrats haven't even yet adopted any committee chair term limits that the Republicans finally did agree to in their caucus.
I was not pleased to see Durbin angling to hold three top posts this year.. He went for the slot Feinstein had at Judiciary...but he's already been the Senate Democrats' whip for a decade or more and has also held the top slot on the Appropriations subcommittee. He probably figured he had the Judiciary slot coming because he's been living in Schumer's shadow for so long as whip.
Apparently now he's giving up the Appropriations post but is actually kinda whining about how it's a personal and professional "sacrifice" to support putting limits on the total count of leadership posts anyone in their caucus can hold.
Please. We need bench development, not trough hogs in that chamber. There are a bunch of other Dems holding high cards in there for a long time as well. It's not right. Experience is good and speaks to building up a store of institutional knowledge, but hanging on too long is costly in two ways: it embitters and demotivates formerly hopeful ascendants, and when "something happens" then they lose institutional knowledge in one fell swoop after one person keeps an iron fist on a slot for 20 years.
Sounds like the Dems are pushing for five-year terms on committee chair / ranking member posts going forward, AND some limit, to be determined, on how many committee or subcommittee panels one may head up or serve on as ranking member.... AND... some want to ditch the Dems' erstwhile reliance on seniority and open up competition for higher level posts.
It's a start. The ones who will probably not like it most are the ones who've already languished behind some of these guys holding ranking member chairs of full committees for 20 years or more. At least the mid-rank ones could always pick up an additional subcommittee slot once in awhile while waiting for someone to die.
Now we have Whitehouse deciding seniority is so over, after waiting 14 years waiting for Feinstein to retire and now watching Durbin decide to claim the slot after she stepped back... so he's challenging Durbin for the Judiciary slot even though Durbin said he'd relinquish Appropriations and hold only the whip post and Judiciary.
( So Durbin's now like wait what just happened here could I end up just being whip and Schumer still trucking along as leader?)
OK. so as a voter? I don't care who listens to some (probably GOP) chair gavel a subcommittee to order. Pass some fricken infrastructure bills or somethiing.
Just below Durbin in the ranks, Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Debbie Stabenow (Mich.) hold elected leadership positions that come with staff budgets and some extra office space, while they also serve as the top Democrat on two full committees and on influential subcommittees.
Some have talked about expanding Kaine’s proposal to include at least those two leadership posts. Others are aggressively pushing to install term limits on the top spot for committees, similar to the six-year limit Republicans impose on their chairmen.
Whitehouse, 65, after 14 years in the Senate, is no higher than fourth in seniority on the four legislative committees that he serves — probably requiring at least another 10 years to reach the top spot on any of the panels, maybe longer, without any rules changes.
Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), the longest serving senator, by contrast, has held a top committee position for 26 straight years, first at Judiciary and now at the Appropriations Committee.
Schumer has deputized Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a trusted operator by both generations of the caucus, to moderate the debate and assemble new rules proposals. The caucus is expected to have several conference calls discussing them, with votes possible as early as next week.