Senate Democrats voted against a rule change that would have prohibited members in leadership from also chairing top committees.
The conference voted by secret ballot Thursday to reject the rule change proposed by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI). The change would have affected Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee, and likely Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), who also chair powerful committees and are expected to rise to the No. 3 and No. 4 leadership spots in a shake-up of the hierarchy.
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The vote leaves the current practice of allowing senators to hold multiple high-ranking positions in place. Whitehouse previously fought to change this in 2020 when he ran against Durbin for Judiciary Committee chair. The proposed rule change wouldn’t have gone into effect until 2025 but stoked tensions between the senators. Whitehouse’s 2020 push to redistribute power to junior senators resulted in Durbin giving up the chairs of lower-ranking subcommittees.
“He did this two years ago to me. Now, he’s put Amy and Debbie in the boat with me,” Durbin told Politico on Monday. “He does very well for himself. And yet he continues this campaign.”
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Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) proposed changes to the leadership structure heading into 2023 that would eliminate the third-ranking position of assistant leader. The current holder of that position, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), is stepping down at the end of the year. The shake-up would make the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee chair and Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee chair, currently held by Stabenow and Klobuchar, respectively, the third and fourth top spots.
Senate Republicans have term limits for all top roles except leader and do not allow those in leadership to also chair powerful committees.
