Sandy Levin Tapped to Replace Rangel as Ways and Means Chair

Posted on Mar 4, 2010

Wikimedia Commons / U.S. Congress

Goodbye, Charlie—hello, Sandy: Rep. Levin is taking over Rep. Rangel’s committee post.

Following Rep. Charles Rangel’s announcement Wednesday that he’d no longer head up the House Ways and Means Committee, naturally the nation awaited the revelation of his successor with bated breath ... or not. But either way, Rep. Sander Levin has been picked to take over. Levin’s a Democrat from Michigan, and as The Christian Science Monitor notes, he “now forms one-half of the most powerful brother team on Capitol Hill in decades.” Good luck, Rep. Levin, and steer clear of travel offers to the Caribbean.  —KA

The Christian Science Monitor:

Levin is a veteran lawmaker from Royal Oak, Mich., a Detroit suburb off famed Woodward Avenue that is home to many auto workers and executives. He is also the older brother of Sen. Carl Levin (D) of Michigan, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

To have siblings running two of the most important panels in US government is unprecedented. It’s certainly unprecedented for Michigan, a state struggling with unemployment due to auto industry bankruptcies and restructuring.

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