Thursday, July 31, 2008

Acting quickly, the Senate Republican Conference met yesterday to fill the positions vacated by Stevens, as well as the spots of senators who moved up the leadership ladder to replace him.

The biggest winner would appear to be Sen. Thad Cochran (Miss.), who already was ranking Republican on the Appropriations Committee. He replaced Stevens atop that panel in 2005, when Stevens was required to give up the post because of term limits.

But Stevens still held the position of ranking Republican on the defense appropriations subcommittee, which dishes out more than $450 billion in Pentagon funding. Now that Stevens gives up that position, Cochran, next in line based on seniority, has scooped up the ranking membership of the defense subcommittee. Best of all for Cochran, he’s maintaining his ranking position on the homeland security subcommittee, because there are only two other Republicans who don’t already have top subcommittee slots: Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who doesn’t accept such positions; and Sen. Larry Craig, who is, well, retiring.

Also, click here to read the article in “Thad Cochran to Take Over Powerful Defense Subcommittee For Stevens” in The Politico for more information.