WASHINGTON - -A game of musical committee chairs in the U.S. Senate ended Wednesday and left Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski of Maryland right where she is: as the most senior senator without a committee chairmanship.
Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin is taking over as head of the Senate health committee, succeeding Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, who died last month at the age of 77.
Connecticut Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, who took charge of health legislation while Kennedy struggled with brain cancer, was first in line to chair the committee, formally known as Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. But Dodd chose to remain as chairman of the Banking committee, which is grappling with the most sweeping overhaul of the financial regulatory system since the Depression.
Dodd's decision cleared the way for Harkin to move up as chairman of Health, ahead of Mikulski, who ranks third in line in Democratic seniority.
Under Senate rules, a senator can chair only one major committee, and there had been speculation that Harkin would remain as head of Agriculture, which is of importance to his farm state.
His decision to lead the Health panel instead elevates Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas to the chairmanship of Agriculture, the first woman ever to hold that post. Lincoln was first elected in 1998 and outranked in seniority those on the panel who do not currently chair a major committee.
Mikulski, 74, was first elected to the Senate in 1986 and is running for another six-year term in next year's election.
She ranks fifth, behind Harkin, in Democratic seniority on the appropriations panel and third on the health committee.
