Sen. Harkin to succeed Kennedy as HELP Committee chairman

Sen. Harkin, widely viewed as very liberal, will succeed Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass, who died last month from brain cancer.

During Sen. Kennedy’s illness, Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., headed the HELP Committee on an interim basis and helped guide the panel’s consideration and passage of comprehensive health care reform legislation. Sen. Dodd was next in line to succeed Sen. Kennedy but turned down the position so he could remain head of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.

Over the years, Sen. Harkin has not played a significant role in health care legislation. He did, though, several years ago play a key role in temporarily blocking the Treasury Department from finalizing regulations that would have made clear that the basic design of cash balance pension plans did not discriminate against older employees. Treasury later withdrew the rules, though Congress several years later passed legislation shielding new cash balance plans from age discrimination suits.

Sen. Harkin’s accession to HELP Committee chairman comes at a critical time in the drive to pass health care reform legislation. The Finance Committee is expected to begin consideration of reform legislation in about two weeks. If that panel passes a reform bill, its version would have to be melded with the HELP Committee-approved measure for the full Senate to consider.

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