Nancy Pelosi

Rangel Steps Down: Who’s Next?

By Jay Newton-Small | @JNSmall | March 3, 2010 | +

Charlie Rangel today announced he’ll temporarily lay down the gavel to the Ways & Means Committee, Congress’s top tax writing panel, after being admonished by the Ethics committee for two corporate sponsored trips to the Caribbean. So, the question is: who succeeds him? ABC News reported that Michigan’s Sander Levin, the No. 3 Democrat on the panel would get the chairmanship. Levin’s got obvious tie to unions and Detroit, a linkage that didn’t seem to handicap John Dingell at the helm of the Energy and Commerce Committee for so many years, but Dingell wasn’t writing corporate tax laws. The No. 2 on the panel, Pete Stark, is a long time advocate for health care reform but doesn’t exactly have the, um, temperament for such a high profile job. The No. 4 is Jim McDermott, who also has a history of rash decisions. No 5 is civil rights legend John Lewis who brings the gravitas, if not the passionate wonkishness needed for a life steeped in IRS codes. Which leaves No. 6, Massachusetts’s Richard Neal, whom Rangel has been grooming for the past year as his heir apparent. The problem, as Bloomberg News’ Ryan Donmoyer notes, is how to get to Neal without pissing off four very senior members of the caucus? On the other hand, a weak Ways & Means Committee means that the Senate Finance Committee drives all tax policy: more power to ya, Max Baucus.

Subscribe to Jay Newton-Small on Facebook
Related Topics: charlie rangel, gavel, him McDermott, John Lewis, Pete Stark, Richard Neal, sander levin, ways & means, Congress, Democratic Party, Economy, Nancy Pelosi

  • Latest on Swampland

    Pete Souza / The White House via Getty Images
    Closeup May 25, 2012

    Political Picures of the Week, May 18-25

    TIME’s photo editors bring you the best pictures of the past week from the Beltway and beyond.

    From our Partners

    Obama Administration Blocks Global Health Fund To Fight Disease In Developing NationsHuffPost Politics

    From left: AP; ABACAUSA
    2012 Election May 25, 2012

    The Phony War: Obama and Romney Are Debating Character, Not Policy

    More than five months from Election Day, the back-and-forth about Mitt Romney’s record at Bain already feels played out. Unfortunately, there’s good reason to expect the campaign continues in this vein indefinitely. Neither Barack Obama nor Mitt Romney are terribly interested in dwelling on policy platforms. Romney’s plan to slash spending and keep taxes low on the wealthy isn’t especially popular, at least not at any level of detail beyond a blithe promise to shrink the deficit. Meanwhile, Obama’s signature first-term achievements, like health care, the stimulus and Wall Street reform, are all unpopular or tricky to sell. (The Dodd-Frank bill is the most popular of these, but hyping it means offending wealthy donors.) So what we’re getting instead is a superficial duel about character–and, worse, one that’s based on the largely false premise that the better man can better “manage” the economy back to health.

  • spob

    There are some typos, e.g. civil right legend.
    .
    Did Rangel have the wonkishness? And wasn’t Jim McDermott one of the three Dems who went to see Saddam before the invasion. Think what you want about Iraq–Saddam deserved no sympathy.

  • spob

    JNS, two questions:
    .
    (1) Is Rangel going to repay the corporate sponsors for the cost of the trip?
    .
    (2) Is Rangel going to pay income tax on the value of the trip?

  • nflfoghorn

    Overlooked is the pecking order of these legislative posts. Why is it seemingly based on seniority alone, not knowledge or any other consideration?

  • afguy

    Nice framing, spob.
    .
    You think that, maybe, the sympathy was NOT with Saddam but maybe for those American and Iraqi kids who would be killed if we went into that country with military force?
    .
    You know, to make sure there were no other options beyond military force to solve the problem.

  • afguy

    nflfoghorn,
    .
    What I’ve noticed is that, even where I work, when they supposedly incorporate a “merit-based” promotion plan, it’s those who have been there the longest who, somehow, are found to be the most “meritorious”.
    .
    I’m not sure they REALLY know how to evaluate merit. Longevity has a concrete number assigned to it.

  • http://zigmarketing.com Howard Zoss

    nflfoghorn,

    the answer is simple … there is very little knowledge in Washington and absolutely no intuition or common sense of any type … it operates a lot like Disneyland without any of the efficiency
    thus, as afguy notes, the only thing left is seniority … truly more of a wasteland than a swampland

  • afguy

    …it operates a lot like Disneyland without any of the efficiency…
    .
    But with more than a few of the cartoon characters.
    .
    I hear “MIckey Mouse” is a constant presence there, used to describe MANY endeavors…

  • afguy

    Just how long is your self-induced “Rangel Erection” going to last?
    .
    You know, they DO say that, for any erection lasting more than 8 hours, you should get medical help.
    .
    Yours should be ready to absolutely explode by now.

  • lcky9

    Lets see now can we get more of those extremist CZARS out of THE PEOPLES White House..? Maybe Barney and Dobbs with their sweetheart deals too? Guess that’s to much to ask cause it would effect the PROGRESSIVE agenda.. Weren’t there a few more who don’t like to pay taxes? They should be gone too..

  • spob

    Framing or not, Baghdad Jim McDermott’s actions weren’t exactly, um, patriotic.

  • spob

    Gee, afguy, in an age of huge budget deficits, thinking it important that a Congressman you know pay his taxes doesn’t seem like such a bad thing.

  • square1

    Ha ha. It is Stark. I guess JNS will have to clutch the pearls and reach for the smelling salts.

  • spob

    pete stark, anti-gay bigot, nice chairman you have there

  • afguy

    Read up on him.
    .
    Let’s see, his sins were (1) to say that he thought Bush would mislead us into a war and (2) that he predicted no WMD would be found.
    .
    Was he being unpatriotic because (1) he didn’t wholeheartedly support what some had misgivings about or (2) he had the unmitigated gall to be proven right?
    .
    The “Bagdad Jim” moniker came from his enemies – GOP perhaps? What name have we given the ones who proved to be disastrously wrong in all of that?
    .
    Oh, yeah, Neocons and GOP!
    .
    Yeah, I know, Dems did it too. Based on cherry-picked intelligence and some out-and-out whoppers presented as fact…

  • apr2563

    Let’s see who is more patriotic:
    Someone who risks his political career by standing up to a President he believes is on a disastrous path that will lead to 1000s of unnecessary deaths, or
    A President who leads us into a preemptive war that leads to 100,000s of unnecessary deathss

  • freeinpa

    In response to “who’s next”?

    ==
    Eric Massa to retire amid allegations he sexually harassed a male staffer

    Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/33864.html#ixzz0h8yLeX12
    ==
    Oh you weren’t talking about his replacement were you?

  • apr2563

    spob:
    I agree. Rangel should pay back everything he owes. I don’t you will find any liberals here with sympathy for Rangel.
    Now, since you love to bring up past sins, have all those who took Abramhoff money for trips, etc. paid that money back? Have they paid back the money for the trips with Abramhoff and Delay to the Marianas to ensure the continuation of forced labor, forced abortions, and prostitution?
    http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/05/09/real.delay/

blog comments powered by Disqus