NC's Congressional power shortage

by Rob Christensen, News and Observer, December 18, 2014.

When Republican Sen. Richard Burr becomes chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee in January, it will be the first major Senate committee chairmanship held by a Tar Heel since the retirement of the late Jesse Helms.

Burr’s elevation is the exception. North Carolina’s congressional delegation will have less seniority than at any time in the last 100 years. Not since the horse and buggy days of the first decade of the 1900s will there be so little experience in the Tar Heel delegation.

The power shortage is mainly a temporary phenomenon – the result of a changeover of the delegation from Democratic to Republican.

The 15-member delegation – two senators and 13 House members – will include four new members taking office in January, joining four current freshmen.

The delegation is so young that one of its grizzled veterans is 39-year old Rep. Patrick McHenry, a Republican from Cherryville, who back in 1997 as a sophomore at N.C. State University welcomed President Bill Clinton’s motorcade to Raleigh by donning an Abe Lincoln mask and holding up a sign that said, “Who’s sleeping in my bed?”

McHenry is tied for fourth in seniority in the N.C. House delegation, having served 10 years in Congress.

Seniority brings power

But that greenness is likely to change in coming years. Redistricting is likely to make most House districts safe. And the new Republicans are likely to begin climbing up the ladder.

Burr’s rise can be attributed to his re-election in 2000 – the first senator to retain that seat since Democrat Sam Ervin in 1968.

When Georgia’s Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss, the ranking member of the intelligence committee, retired, Burr’s seniority put him next in line for chairmanship. (Before he’s official, committee members must vote and their choice be ratified by Senate Republicans.)

Helms was the last senator to head major committees, having chaired the Senate Agriculture and Foreign Relations committees.

When North Carolina – and the South – was controlled by one party, the Democrats were able to accumulate enough seniority to gain major committee posts. B. Everett Jordan and Lee Overman chaired the Senate Rules Committee, and Furnifold Simmons was Finance Committee chairman.

In the House, Harold Cooley was Agriculture Committee chairman, Claude Kitchen was House Majority leader, and Robert Doughton was House Ways and Means chairman, overseeing passage of the Social Security Act of 1935.

Today few Tar Heel lawmakers have such clout, but some are on the rise.

Rep. G.K. Butterfield of Wilson is chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, while Rep. David David Price of Chapel Hill is the ranking Democrat on the Homeland Security Appropriations Committee.

Other lawmakers are on the rise, including Rep. Virginia Foxx, who is vice chair of the House Rules Committee; and Richard Hudson, who is chairman of the Transportation Safety subcommittee. Others are taking on party responsibilities, such as McHenry, who is chief deputy Republican whip, and Renee Ellmers, who is chair of the Republican Women’s Policy Committee.

Assuming the GOP continues to control the House, the new Republican-dominated North Carolina delegation should begin to gain influence.