Enzi, Cornyn get coveted Finance seats

Sen. Mike Enzi,
who told The Hill that he was pissed when he was passed over for a Finance
Committee seat in the 110th Congress, on Wednesday received a slot on the coveted
panel.

The Wyoming
Republican nabbed one of two open seats on the panel that became available when
Finance Committee members Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) and John Sununu (R-N.H.) lost
their reelection battles in November.

{mosads}Enzi will be
joined on the panel by new National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman
John Cornyn (Texas).

In other major
moves, 2008 GOP presidential candidate John McCain (Ariz.) stepped down from
the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. He will serve instead join
the Energy and Natural Resources panel, the Health, Education, Labor and
Pensions Committee and will also serve on the Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs Committee under the leadership of his friend Sen. Joe
Lieberman (I-Conn.).

GOP Sens. Susan
Collins (Maine), George Voinovich (Ohio) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) joined the
Appropriations Committee.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) also elevated Sen. Johnny Isakson (Ga.) to the top
spot on the Ethics Committee, leap-frogging Sen. Pat Roberts (Kan.) and Cornyn,
and Sen. John Barrasso (Wyo.) to the top spot on the Indian Affairs Committee
over Murkowski, McCain and Sen. Tom Coburn (Okla.).

Freshman GOP
senators Mike Johanns of Nebraska and Jim Risch of Idaho also got their new
committee assignments Wednesday. Johanns, who served as Agriculture secretary
in the Bush administration, will be on the Agriculture Committee as well as on
the Banking Committee, the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee,
the Veterans Affairs panel and the Indian Affairs Committee.

Risch won seats
on the Foreign Relations Committee, Energy and Natural Resources, the
Ethics panel and the Intelligence and Joint Economic committees

Democrats also
doled out committee assignments to its newest members.

Sen. Roland
Burris (Ill.) will serve on the Armed Services Committee, the Veterans Affairs
panel and Lieberman’s Homeland Security committee.

Sen. Ted Kaufman
(Del.) will not only replace Vice President Biden in the upper chamber but also
on the Judiciary Committee and the Foreign Relations panel.