WASHINGTON New Jersey Sen. Jon Corzine was one of three new Democrats added to the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday.
The former chairman of Goldman Sachs & Co. was joined by Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, an active banking industry ally as governor and a member of the House Banking Committee for many years; and Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan.
The announcement by temporary Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle also marked the departure of Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina from the Banking Committee. Sen. Kerry left to join the Finance Committee, and Sen. Edwards left Banking and another panel in favor of the Commerce, Intelligence, and Health, Education, and Labor committees.
Democrats added a key opponent of bankruptcy reform, Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, to the Judiciary Committee, which oversees that legislation. Meanwhile, Sen. Robert G. Torricelli of New Jersey, who had worked with the Republicans to draft a compromise on bankruptcy reform, left the Judiciary Committee to join the Finance Committee.
The assignments are being closely watched this year, as the Senate is evenly divided between the two parties and a new power-sharing agreement will be put into place.
Republican leader Sen. Trent Lott was expected to release Republican committee assignments by today.
