Weigel

Elizabeth Warren Goes to the Banking Committee

That’s the lede from the Democrats’ new assignments for their incoming senators. The other ones that have the pontential to matter:

- Sen. Michael Bennet moves from the Budget Committee to the Finance Committee, which puts him into much closer contact with the financial industry right as he takes over the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

- Tammy Baldwin, arguably the most progressive new member of the new Senate, gets Homeland Security, Budget, HELP (Health, Education, Labor), and Aging.

- Angus King, the independent who’s caucusing with Democrats, gets Budget, Rules, Armed Services and Intelligence for his troubles.

- Sen. Mary Landrieu, arguably the most endangered Democrat up in 2014, chairs the Small Business committee – again, nice connections to industry. Same with Sen. Jay Rockefeller, who’s up in 2014 and chairs Commerce.

Anyway, the lede is right. The Warren move makes Banking committee work and hearings much more interesting to reporters. It’s a defeat for an industry that funded the campaign against her, and wanted to keep her off when she got to D.C.