There’s been a lot of schadenfreude on the right (and to some extent on the left) about the fact that Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) has, at least for now, lost his seniority on various committees, particularly the Judiciary and Appropriations Committees.
But while that continues to be the case, Senate leaders have reportedly reached a compromise of sorts. Specter, according to The Washington Post, will assume the chairmanship of the Judiciary’s Crime and Drugs Subcommittee. To make room for him, that subcommittee’s current chairman–Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-IL)–will step down and assume the chairmanship of the reconstituted Human Rights Subcommittee.
It’s a small bone–he’s still lost much of his power on the pork-able Appropriations Committee–but they’ve thrown it to him. Just as Reid suggested they would yesterday.
