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For an ignorant Frenchman, what are exactly the powers of a committee head in the Senate ?

The Senate seems to have a lot of complex hierarchies, and many are not all that clear...

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères

by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Wed Nov 19th, 2008 at 12:12:50 PM EST
[ Parent ]
From Wikipedia:

The United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs has jurisdiction over matters related to the Department of Homeland Security and other homeland security concerns, as well as the functioning of the government itself, including the National Archives, budget and accounting measures other than appropriations, the Census, the federal civil service, the affairs of the District of Columbia, and the United States Postal Service. The committee's name was formerly the United States Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, prior to homeland security being added to its responsibilities.

The politics of the committee are up in the air for now, because so many Republicans on it were either defeated in the election (Stevens, Sununu, possibly Coleman), have retired and been replaced by Dems (Warner, Domenici), or are in serious danger in upcoming elections (Voinovich).  Collins and Coburn are the only two Reps certain to be on for the foreseeable future, but even they're likely without problem, since Collins can be pushed around and Coburn has a good relationship with Obama after working on transparency issues with him.

Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin

by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Wed Nov 19th, 2008 at 12:21:16 PM EST
[ Parent ]
No hearings can be held without the consent of the committee chairman.  He sets the agenda.  That was why there was no oversight of GWB from 2002 to 2006.  After 2006.......

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Wed Nov 19th, 2008 at 03:55:50 PM EST
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