[Counselor_Educ] Fwd: NRA's Washington Wire: SENATOR HARKIN LIKELY TO BECOME SENATE HELP COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN

[robinsoh at ohio.edu]

----- Forwarded message from Sandra Mullliner <smulliner at nationalrehab.org> ---
--
From: Sandra Mullliner <smulliner at nationalrehab.org>
To: Membership <membership at nationalrehab.org>
Subject: NRA's Washington Wire:  SENATOR HARKIN LIKELY TO BECOME SENATE HELP 
COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 2009 09:43:19 -0400

 
To:       The National Rehabilitation Association's Membership
 
From:   Patricia Leahy, Director of Government Affairs
 
Re:       Senator Tom Harkin (D.IA.) Likely To become Senate HELP
Committee Chairman
 
Date:    Wednesday, September 9, 2009
 
 
            For those who read on the run, this Washington Wire deals
with one issue:  The expected announcement today that Senator Chris Dodd
(D.CONN.) will NOT seek the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
(HELP) Committee Chairmanship, as many had expected, and that Senator
Tom Harkin (D.IA.), a long-time champion of children and adults with
disabilities, who is the second ranking Member of the Senate HELP
Committee, will become Chairman of this powerful Committee.
 
            Senator Dodd has scheduled at 11:00 a.m. Press Conference
this morning to announce his decision.
 
             POLITICO, one of three Capitol Hill news services, reports
the following:
 
             "Senator Christopher Dodd's expected announcement that he
will remain in charge of the Banking Committee should give a big boost
to his longtime colleague, Tom Harkin, while setting off a shuffle on
other Senate Committee panels.
 
              Dodd has played stand-in for the late Senator Ted Kennedy
(D.MASS.) for most of this year on the pivotal HELP Committee during the
health reform debate, raising questions about which role he might decide
to play full-time after Kennedy's death.  Now, Dodd has decided to stay
put with the Banking Committee; two Senate sources tell POLITICO.
 
               Aside from Harkin, another potential winner from this
round of musical chairmanships is Senator Blanche Lincoln (D.ARK.) who
may end up leapfrogging several more senior members of the Agriculture
Committee to take over that panel -- a move that could be key in
persuading voters back home to send her back to Washington.
 
                With Dodd staying put at Banking, Harkin would likely
get the gavel on the HELP panel, which had been chaired by Kennedy.....
 
                 Harkin hasn't shown his hand yet, but many expect him
to take HELP given that the Agriculture Committee passed a five-year
farm bill last Congress.
 
                  Harkin's ascension at the HELP Committee, in turn,
would open up the Agriculture Committee for a new Chairman.  Senator
Patrick Leahy (D.VT.) is next in seniority, but he is already Judiciary
Chairman and is unlikely to give up that post...."
 
                  We will keep you advised of this surprising
development as additional information becomes known to us.
 
                   All information within remains current as of this
time and date.
 
  
                
 
Patricia Leahy
Director of Governmental Affairs and Public Policy
National Rehabilitation Association
633 South Washington Street
Alexandria, VA 22314
1-888-258-4295
NRA Office - 703-836-0850
NRA Fax - 703-836-0848
TDD - 703-836-0849 
E-mail - patricia at nationalrehab.org
NRA Website - www.nationalrehab.org <http://www.nationalrehab.org/> 

----- End forwarded message -----



Mona Robinson, Ph.D., PC, CRC
Assistant Professor
Rehabilitation Counseling and Chillicothe Program Coordinator
President-Elect, NAMRC 
Ohio University
386 McCracken Hall
Athens, Ohio 45701
740-593-4461 Office
740-593-0477 Fax
robinsoh at ohio.edu