Every 2 years, both houses of Congress need to pass an organizing resolution, which specifies things like committee members for the various parties.

Because the Senate is a continuing body, only 1/3 are reelected at a time, and this organizing resolution is subject to filibuster, I was fully expecting the ‘Phants to do Harry Reid like a two dollar whore.

I’m pleasantly surprised that Reid got exactly what he wanted, with no filibuster.

The Democrats gets +3 on most committees, +4 on the Appropriations and Armed Services committees, +1 on the Intel Committee (decreed by statute), +2 on the Joint Economic Committee, and even membership on the Ethics Committee (which is standard).

The reason that this happened, I think, is that if they had continued to operate under the old organizing resolution, the Dems would have been at +5 on Appropriations, which would have made things rather tough for the ‘Phants.