Republicans have promised Bill Cassidy a seat on the Senate’s energy committee if he defeats Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu in Louisiana’s runoff election next month, potentially undercutting one of Landrieu’s main arguments for re-election.
Landrieu has repeatedly touted the importance of her seat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in her campaign for a fourth term representing a state with a robust oil and gas industry. While she will no longer serve as the committee’s chair in the GOP-led Senate in the next Congress, Landrieu has campaigned hard on her place as the committee’s senior Democrat—and Cassidy’s inability to get a seat on the panel as a freshman senator.
“The question is, do you want somebody on the committee or do you want a rookie that has no seniority and is likely to not even get on the committee,” Landrieu said as she kicked off her runoff campaign.
But incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says in a statement released to The Associated Press that he will appoint Cassidy to the committee should Cassidy win his Dec. 6 runoff election against Landrieu.
“I’m confident Dr. Cassidy will use this position to succeed where Sen. Landrieu failed,” McConnell says in the statement, which also touts Cassidy’s support for the Keystone XL pipeline and opposition to Obama administration efforts to place new restrictions on carbon emissions. Read the full story.
