With the democrats in control of Congress comes new committee assignments. For instance, the Senate Finance Committee is now headed by Max Baucus. The Montana Senator has said that he intends to repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax this year, and is encouraging the Government Accountability Office to push ahead with its broad review of the SEC's Office of Compliance Inspections and Examination, and its enforcement unit. Rep. Charles Rangel of New York now heads the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, which has oversight over tax policy and Social Security.
In 2007, both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees will each have 12 subcommittees, including a new Financial Services and General Government panel, which will have jurisdiction over federal organizations such as the Treasury Department, the Federal Judiciary, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and other related agencies.
Here are the 110th Congress's chairmen:
U.S. Senate
Aging: Herb Kohl (Wisconsin)
Agriculture: Tom Harkin (Iowa)
Appropriations: Robert Byrd (West Virginia)
Armed Services: Carl Levin (Michigan)
Banking: Christopher Dodd (Connecticut)
Budget: Kent Conrad (North Dakota)
Commerce: Daniel Inouye (Hawaii)
Energy: Jeff Bingaman (New Mexico)
Environment Public Works: Barbara Boxer (California)
Finance: Max Baucus (Montana)
Foreign Relations: Joseph Biden (Delaware)
Health: Edward Kennedy (Massachusetts)
Homeland and Government Affairs: Joe Lieberman (Connecticut)
Joint Economic: Chuck Schumer (New York)
Judiciary: Patrick Leahy (Vermont)
Indian Affairs: Byron Dorgan (North Dakota)
Intelligence: Jay Rockefeller (West Virginia)
Small Business: John Kerry (Massachusetts)
