Senate Leadership Backs Stevens

Members of the Senate leadership told The Hill that Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) should be allowed to keep his committee seats.

Two watchdog groups have pushed to have Stevens temporarily removed from his committee assignments until the conclusion of a federal criminal investigation looking into his dealings with oil services company Veco and a series of earmarks that benefited one of his pet projects in Alaska.

Unlike in the House, the Senate has adopted a “wait and see” posture:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) both said Tuesday that Stevens could continue serving on his Senate panels, since charges have not been brought against him.

“My personal feeling is that we have to be very careful about punishing people during an investigation,” Reid, a former longtime appropriator, said Tuesday. “I don’t know anything about the Stevens investigation, but I’m not going to be in a position where just because someone’s under investigation they’re punished here in the Senate.”