There will have to be some re-ordering of the
Senate Commerce Committee, and perhaps the House Energy & Commerce
Committee, the two committees that oversee communications policy.
With
the nomination Friday of Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) to replace Hillary
Clinton as Secretary of State -- he will almost certainly be confirmed -- that
would remove him from the post of chair of the Communications Subcommittee,
where he has pushed for privacy legislation and network neutrality regs.
The
Commerce Committee is already getting a new ranking member -- expected to be
Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) with the retirement of Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas)
and the resignation of Senator Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) to head the HeritageFoundation.
But
there could be spill-over to the House side as well.
Ed
Markey (D-Mass.) former chair of the House E&C Communications Subcommittee
and a continuing force on communications issues including privacy, children's
programming and net neutrality, has been mentioned as a possible candidate for
Kerry's senate seat.
