AP source: Dodd rejects health panel chairmanship (Harkin steps up)

[jefferson_dem]

Source: AP

AP source: Dodd rejects health panel chairmanship
By ANNE FLAHERTY (AP) – 22 minutes ago

WASHINGTON — Sen. Christopher Dodd has decided against succeeding his friend Edward Kennedy as chairman of the Senate panel focused overhauling the nation's health care system, a Senate aide confirmed Tuesday.

Dodd's decision means that he will continue to lead the Senate's banking committee and focus his efforts on pushing through a major overhaul of federal banking regulations.

The job of chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee was expected to fall to Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, the next most senior Democrat on the panel.

Whether Dodd would succeed Kennedy, who died last month of brain cancer, was the subject of much speculation on Capitol Hill in part because the move would have left the financial reform effort in the hands of Sen. Tim Johnson.

Johnson, whose home state of South Dakota has attracted the credit card industry because of its business-friendly usury laws, is seen as considerably more moderate than Dodd. He also is still recovering from a brain hemorrhage, prompting some lobbyists and aides to question whether he was up to the physical demands of being chairman.

As chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, Dodd, D-Conn., has been drafting a complex rewrite of the rules that govern banks and other financial institutions. He wants to create a new agency focused entirely on consumer protections, as President Barack Obama has suggested.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i4RLCZ30Arez0s9PsxNnZOa8IXpwD9AJGJ383

[Bluzmann57]

1. Harkin is a good man

Too bad the other Senator from this great state isn't. Congratulations to Senator Harkin. A Prairie Populist.

[Cha]

9. Yes, he is..and someone who will honor

Senator Kennedy's position.

[DJ13]

2. he will continue to lead the Senate's banking committee

Always stay where the campaign cash is most lucrative.

[liberalhistorian]

4. Hey, believe me, I'd much rather have him in the banking

position than Johnson, even if Johnson is my own Dem senator. When it comes to banking and financial issues, Johnson is as bad as a staunch republican, putting the interests of the state's bloodsucking credit card company headquarters far ahead of the needs of hundreds of millions of Americans. In short, there would have been NO reform at all under Johnson, or it would have been so watered down as to have been laughably absurd. Johnson is also in the pocket of the vulture predatory payday loan industry, thanks to their immense campaign contributions to his war chest. I'm very glad to see this, I was very upset at the thought of Johnson at the head of the bank committee and in charge of the "reforms." There would have been no reforms under him.

[justgamma]

3. Harkin is for single payer.

I know he'll push for a good public option. He's a good guy.

[senseandsensibility]

5. Harkin's from the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party

and he's got the fire in his belly.

[Iowa]

6. This is good news. Harkin is stand-up. He's what a Democrat should be. n/t

[NYC Democrat]

7. thank god that means we get to keep Dodd on banking and while I do have problems with Dodd

on some the the issues worked on by his committee having him as chairman is infinitely better then having Tim Johnson as chairman.

[rwheeler31]

8. Dems are good people.

Thank you.

[BlueMTexpat]

10. Bravo, Tom!

Harkin is a good man and a progressive.

:applause:

[never cry wolf]

11. I have no problem with Tom Harkin

not that I don't miss Teddy

[mvd]

12. I'm glad he stepped up

I've always found him to be a good progressive.

[SpartanDem]

13. Thank God

Johnson would've been a disaster.

[laughingliberal]

17. My sentiments exactly

When I read Tim Johnson would take over that committee if Dodd took the HELP chairmanship, I wanted to hang myself

[bemildred]

14. Excellent. nt

[librechik]

15. yay, Harkin!

hope springs again!

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

16. How can Iowa elect both Harkin and Grassley?

Some weird schizophrenia going on there.

[Omnibus]

18. Hooray! Tom Harkin is one of the good ones!

Thank God it's not Dodd. He's a bit too Blue Dog for my tastes.

[question everything]

19. Great! Tom Harkin is a good man (nt)