Wyden Primed to Take Finance Gavel : Roll Call News

Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call

Wyden could take over as chairman of the Finance Committee, now that Baucus has announced his retirement.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., is next in line to assume the chairmanship of the Senate Finance Committee upon the reported retirement of current Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., at the end of next year.

Wyden is No. 3 in seniority on the panel, but Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., who would be in line to take over, has already announced his retirement.

Democrats hold fairly true to their succession rules, particularly given that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is a believer in observing informal seniority rules. Wyden is currently the chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and the powerful Finance gavel would be his to turn down.

On Tuesday, Wyden declined to comment.

?I?m not up on any press reports,? Wyden told reporters after an Energy hearing. ?I just heard these press reports, and I?m not going to comment on them in any way. All I?ve heard are press reports. I am not going to comment in any way this morning.?

Over the years, Baucus and Wyden have clashed on the Finance panel. The Oregon senator has a history of freelancing bipartisan bills with Republicans that Democrats often find unhelpful for their overall message. That was true last year, when Wyden teamed up with House Budget Chairman Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., on Medicare, but later distanced himself from the bill when the then-GOP vice presidential nominee it to burnish his bipartisan chops.

The next Democratic senator in line after Wyden is Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y. As it stands, Schumer is also high in the order to assume the Senate Banking Committee gavel, just behind Jack Reed of Rhode Island, after Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., announced his retirement last month. Reed is expected to assume the chairmanship of the Armed Services panel.

Lauren Gardner contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.rollcall.com/news/wyden_primed_to_take_finance_gavel-224260-1.html

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