Two challengers to Rep. Henry Gonzalez's role as ranking minority member of the House Banking Committee have complained in letters to party colleagues that that the 80-year-old Texan no longer has enough energy to lead the panel's Democrats.
Reps. John LaFalce of New York and Bruce Vento of Minnesota are lobbying for the seat. House Democrats will vote on ranking members next week, though no specific date has been set.
Rep. LaFalce, who often filled in for Rep. Gonzalez at committee hearings, said he has been hamstrung by the stand-in role. "It is a responsibility that is very difficult to fulfill without the clear authority," he said. Rep. Vento said banking committee members "deserve forthright and connected leadership."
Despite frequent absences from committee hearings during the past two years, Rep. Gonzalez does not want to give up his title. One more term, he said in his own letter to members, will maintain Democratic unity in the face of Republican "challenges" to housing and consumer protection laws and allow a smooth transition in the next Congress. The Texas Democrat pledged to relinquish the ranking spot in 1998.
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Making their traditional post-election prophesies of new committee assignments, some lobbyists predict Sen. Christopher Dodd will get the ranking minority seat on the Senate Banking Committee.
With the retirement of Rhode Island's Claiborne Pell, Sen. Joseph Biden has first dibs on the ranking seat on the Foreign Relations Committee. But there is speculation the Delaware Democrat, reportedly loath to serve opposite Sen. Jesse Helms, the conservative firebrand who heads the panel, may decline.
If he does, Sen. Paul Sarbanes is next in line to replace Sen. Pell. The Maryland Democrat has been the Banking Committee's top Democrat, and if he opts for the Foreign Relations Committee it will open up the banking position for Sen. Dodd.
Sen. Dodd, who has sponsored several Glass-Steagall repeal bills, is more likely than Sen. Sarbanes to support affiliation between banks and other financial firms, sources said. Still, some of the country's largest insurance companies have headquarters in Connecticut, so he is expected to side with that industry in any dispute with banks.
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In a move likely to antagonize Democrats, some House Republicans are again pushing Congress to remove government housing programs from the Banking Committee's jurisdiction.
Rep. David Dreier, chairman of the House rules organization subcommittee, wants housing program oversight to be moved to the Economic and Educational Opportunities Committee. The banking panel would assume the duties of the Small Business Committee, which would be eliminated.
The move makes sense, said a Dreier aide, because housing programs have more in common with other social programs, whereas the Small Business Committee oversees programs designed to spur private-sector lending.
Still, any jurisdictional shake-up is a longshot because Rep. Rick Lazio, who heads House Banking's housing subcommittee, is likely to put up a fight. Also Republican leaders may not want to pick a fight with the committee's Democrats. Their ranks include some of Congress' most liberal members, who are dedicated to protecting federal housing policies.
