March 11, 2008

Double-gaveled Berman

Rep. Howard Berman, a Southern California Democrat, will officially replace the late Rep. Tom Lantos as the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. But House Democrats waited three weeks to make the appointment official (he was always next in line), allowing, through an idiosyncrasy in House rules, Berman to become the only congressman to chair a full committee as well as a subcommittee.

Politico.com has the details:

Under Democratic caucus rules, any person who takes over a full committee after March 1 during the second session of a Congress is allowed to retain a subcommittee gavel for the rest of that session.

Lantos died on Feb. 11, and Berman was the obvious successor. But instead of installing Berman in the chairman’s seat immediately, Democratic leaders have delayed a caucus vote on formally ratifying Berman in order to get beyond the March 1 cut-off and thereby avoid a reshuffling of Judiciary subcommittee chairmanships, according to Democratic insiders.
...
By keeping control of Judiciary’s subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property, Berman will retain his lead role in the legislative debate over high-profile patent reform legislation. The fight is a critical one for U.S. businesses, especially in the high-tech, drug and manufacturing industries, which make heavy use of patents. Berman has forged a reputation in the House as a leader on patents, copyrights and other intellectual property issues.

Posted by Shane Goldmacher on March 11, 2008 10:20 AM