Oregon Public Broadcasting

Not all Congressional committee assignments have been announced yet.  But it’s already clear that Oregon will have someone in a leadership position, on the foremost environmental issue of the new Congress. Rob Manning reports.

Portland-area rep, Earl Blumenauer will be the ‘vice-chair’ of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.

It’s a two-year-old committee focused on climate change. Blumenauer says he's impressed that the Obama Administration has put people with climate change expertise into positions of authority.

Earl Blumenauer: “And it’s something that I’m very excited about working with them to make a difference in the course of everything from the economic stimulus to the transportation bill, to how we’re going to finance America in the future.”

Oregon’s sole Republican in Congress, Greg Walden, has become the ‘ranking member’ on the Energy & Commerce Committee’s panel on oversight and investigations.

Many congressional assignments will stay  the same, but some changes haven’t been announced yet.