It’s been just four months since we compiled NAPA Net’s list of the “Top 25 DC Power Hitters” for the cover story of NAPA Net the Magazine’s premiere issue. In that short period of time, though, four members of Congress have announced plans that will drop them off the list when the current session of Congress ends.
Last week, the Senate unanimously confirmed Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) to be the U.S. Ambassador to China, clearing the way for Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) to take over as Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. Wyden will chair that committee for the rest of the 113th Congress.
In the House of Representatives, Reps. George Miller (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Education and Workforce Committee, and Rob Andrews (D-NJ), Ranking Member of the HELP Subcommittee — both of whom were on our “Top 25” list — have announced that they plan to retire from Congress. They are the two highest-ranking Democrats serving on the Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Department of Labor and ERISA. Their departure likely means that in the 114th Congress, Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) will become Ranking Member of the Committee as a whole and Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) will become Ranking Member of the HELP Subcommittee.
Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI), Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, is term-limited in that post and must turn the gavel over at the end of the 113th Congress. Among the candidates to replace him: Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI).
