Senator Norm Coleman to be Chairman of Senate subcommittee that oversees Peace Corps
Read and comment on this story from the Star Tribune that Senator Norm Coleman will be the Chairman of subcommittee with responsibility for oversight of the Western Hemisphere, Peace Corps and Narcotics Affairs. Senator Coleman was elected Senator from Minnesota last November after the tragic death of Senator Paul Wellstone in a plane crash two weeks before the election. Democratic Senator Chris Dodd, who served in the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic, is the former chairman of the committee. Senator Coleman will be instrumental in the passage of new Peace Corps legislation this year. Read the story at:
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Coleman to be chairman of second subcommittee
Tom Ford Star Tribune Washington Bureau Correspondent
Published Feb. 6, 2003 COLE06
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., on Wednesday was named chairman of the Senate's Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Peace Corps and Narcotics Affairs.
It is the second subcommittee chairmanship for Coleman, who joined the Senate last month. He previously took the reins of the Senate's Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
Coleman's selection was mainly the result of party rules that limit senators from holding more than two subcommittee chairmanships. That rule made a number of more senior Republicans on the foreign relations committee ineligible to lead one of its subcommittees, and Coleman was able to claim a leadership post despite being a freshman.
In the last congressional session, the subcommittee dealt with legislation to lift restrictions on travel and trade with Cuba, and it addressed immigration issues surrounding the U.S.-Mexico border.
The panel will oversee aid to Colombia, which is trying to eradicate coca with U.S. funds.
Coleman said he expects to hold hearings on border disputes between the United States and Canada.
"Canadian relations are going to be very important to certainly the folks up in northern Minnesota," he said.
He said that he has already invited President Bush to join him on a fishing trip on the Canadian border, boasting that Rainy Lake is a place where "you can fish it all."
"So I'm hoping sometime to get him there," Coleman said. "We can do some U.S.-Canadian relations stuff, and we can also focus on catching some walleye and some smallmouth bass."
Coleman also received seats on three other Foreign Relations subcommittees: Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs; African Affairs; and International Economic Policy, Export and Trade Promotion. He said he will use his assignment on the African Affairs panel to combat the global AIDS epidemic.
-- Washington Bureau correspondent Rob Hotakainen contributed to this report. Tom Ford is at tford
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