Harry the Butcher to Start Chopping GOP Committee Seats

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) will start chopping Republican committee seats to reflect the new ratios in the 111th Senate. When all the recounts are done and the official results are in, Democrats are expected to have at least a 57-43 advantage in the upper chamber.

Before Republicans start getting apoplectic about this issue, this is common practice in both chambers following an election in which a number of seats have changed parties. The greater the overall seat advantage of the Majority Party in the chamber as a whole, the greater the Majority Party ratio will be on committees.

A spokesperson for Reid said the 103rd Congress, in which Democrats held a similar advantage, will likely be used as a model. According to the Hill, "Democrats may chop additional Republican seats if they expand their majority control to 58, 59 or 60 seats, depending on the outcome of undecided races in Georgia, Minnesota and Alaska."