Wrangle Over Rangel Shows Signs of Strain

[Ardent15]

Charles B. Rangel , his voice unmistakable, welcomed Speaker Nancy Pelosi into his corner hideaway office at the Capitol last week. Soon afterward, he ushered in Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus .

The visits came just hours after the 39-year veteran from Harlem weathered another Republican effort on the House floor to force him out of his chairmanship of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee until an ethics investigation of his personal finances and fundraising ends. But there was no mention during the consultations of the still-expanding probe the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct has been conducting since it empaneled an investigative subcommittee last fall.

Instead, aides said later, Pelosi and Baucus spent all their time discussing plans for health care legislation — and thereby sent a clear message that top Democrats in the party’s congressional hierarchy are behind Rangel, at least for now.

Rangel continues to lead a powerhouse committee with jurisdiction that touches the lives of virtually every American. He meets with fellow lawmakers from both parties, strategizes with business leaders and other stakeholders, and promotes Obama administration priorities. He has continued to host fundraisers, the most recent featuring Tony Bennett serenading guests with “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” at Tavern on the Green in New York’s Central Park.

<http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000003221377>

snip
"Rangel moved quickly to complete his panel’s piece of the health overhaul, holding a 16-hour markup on its section in July. Since then, however, either Waxman or Baucus has held center stage. And those chairmen, not Rangel, are the leading candidates to chair any conference committee on health care."

If it comes down to those two (Waxman and Baucus), every Democrat in America must sign a letter to Congress asking Waxman to be the chairman of a conference committee on health care.

[BrklynLiberal]

1. ..and THAT is exactly why they want him out!!!!!

"Rangel continues to lead a powerhouse committee with jurisdiction that touches the lives of virtually every American"