Yesterday's Congressional Housekeeping-- And Tomorrow's

New DCCC Chairman, Ben Ray Lujan

Tomorrow the Republican conference-- presumably all the old members who are staying on next year plus the class of 2014-- will vote of the recommendations of the Republican Steering Committee for committee chairs. There are 20 members of the steering committee but Boehner, as Speaker, gets 5 votes and Kevin McCarthy, as Leader gets 2 votes. Everybody else gets one vote. As far as I could piece it together, these are the other members:

• Steve Scalise- Whip
• Patrick McHenry- Chief Deputy Whip
• Cathy McMorros Rodgers, Conference Chair
• James Lankford was Policy Chair but he's going to the Senate. Tom Reed (NY), Rob Woodall (GA) and Luke Messer (IN) are all vying for the job
• Lynn Jenkins- Conference Vice-Chair
• Virginia Foxx- Conference Secretary
• Greg Walden- NRCC Chair
• Tom Cole- former NRCC Chair
• Hal Rogers- Appropriations Chair
• Fred Upton- Energy and Commerce Chair
• Jeb Hensarling- Financial Services Chair
• Pete Sessions- Rules Chair
• Dave Camp- Ways & Means Chair is retiring
• Paul Ryan-Budget Chair
• Lamar Smith- represents Texas
• Doc Hastings (retiring)- represents WA, OR, ID, MT, UT, CO, NV, AK
• Tom Latham (retiring)- represents IA, NE, KS, MO, WY, NM, SD
• John Shimkus- represents IL, IN, KY
• Mike Rogers (retiring)- represents MI, WI, MN, ND
• Bill Shuster- represents PA, NJ, MD
• Pat Tiberi- represents OH, NY
• Region VII rep- LA, AR, TN, OK
• Lynn Westmoreland- GA, SC, AL
• Region IX- represents VA, NC, WV
• Ken Calvert- represents CA, AZ
• Jeff Miller- represents FL, MS
• Cynthia Lummis- small state rep
• Joe Heck- 112th class rep (unless he gets knocked out to make room for whomever is named 114th class rep • Richard Hudson- 113th class rep

In terms of the chairs the Republicans are fighting over, the big deals will be replacing the 2 Michiganders who are leaving, Camp (Ways and Means) and Rogers (Intelligence). Ryan is the probable next Ways and Means chair, unless he says he's running for president, in which case he's ineligible. So he won't say he's running for president. The underdog is Kevin Brady (TX). The Intelligence Chair isn't voted on-- just appointed by Boehner, who is presumably picking between Peter King (NY), Devin Nunes (CA) and Jeff Miller (FL), 3 absolutely abysmal possibilities.

Darrell Issa is term-limited out of the Oversight Committee and there's a bitter 3 way battle between Jason Chaffetz (UT), Jim Jordan (OH), the choice of most extremists who want to outdo even Issa in gratuitous atticks against Obama, and John Mica (FL). These are the other committees with openings:

1- Armed Services, from which Buck McKeon is retiring. His pick is Mac Thornberry (TX) but Randy Forbes (VA) has a tiny chance to get in.

2- Budget Committee (if Ryan gets Ways & Means)- Tom Price (GA) is the favorite as vice-chair.

3- Natural Resources, from which Doc Hastings is retiring. Rob Bishop (UT) will probably beat out Louie Gohmert (TX)

4- Veterans Affairs-- Jeff Miller is termed out and it's a pretty even bet between Doug Lamborn (CO) and Gus Bilirakis (FL), 2 jokes.

5- Agriculture-- Frank Lucas is termed out and it looks like Mike Conaway (TX) will get this one with no sweat.

6- Financial Services- Lucas is probably challenging Jeb Hensarling and that is a big deal because it's the source of so much Wall Street bribery for the party. Hensarling is seen as a trouble-maker and Boehner and McCarthy would like to deep-six is leadership career if they can.

7- Small Business- Sam Graves is termed out and Steve Chabot (OH) is next in line.

8- Ethics- Conaway is leaving if he gets the Agriculture Committee, in which case Boehner picks between two Pennsylvanians, Charlie Dent and Pat Meehan.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the aisle, Pelosi pulled a rabbit out of the hat by replacing Steve Israel at the DCCC with not Jim Himes. Wall Street had demanded Himes but progressives got behind Donna Edwards. Pelosi picked a dark horse candidate with support from all factions of the party, Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM). She also threw Israel an undeserved bone with a made up leadership post, chairman of policy and communications-- a horrifying prospect if there's an function whatsoever attached to the title. Don't expect any populist messaging coming out of his office, not that anyone cares what he says anyway. Pelosi appointed Donna Edwards (D-MD) and Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) co-chairs of the House Dem's policy and steering committee, the committee which picks the committee members and decides who the ranking members are.

Lujan seems like a nice guy, albeit not maybe not Mr. Dynamic and certainly not a fundraising force. Most Democratic Members I asked about the choice have been perplexed and don't understand Pelosi's thought process. It just seems like an attempt to find a consensus candidate for a tough job who won't make any changes to the abysmally dysfunctional committee that needs a drastic overhaul. I hope what Lujan lacks in oomph, he'll make up for in vision, but I haven't found anyone in Congress who thinks that's the case, although people tell me he's pretty smart. I'm glad we have someone who won't be trying to disadvantage progressives in favor of Blue Dogs and New Dems, the way Emanuel and Israel always did but, this probably wasn't a great choice-- just another indication of an ossified Democratic leadership unable to face reality and make tough decisions.