Thurmond To Give Up Armed Services Reins In 1998

Virginia's Warner is next in line to chair the committee

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, Dec. 5) -- Sen. Strom Thurmond, who turns 95 today, has announced next year will be his last at the helm of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

"Stepping down as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee is not a decision I make easily or lightly," the South Carolina Republican said in a written statement on Thursday. "Still, I think the time has come for me to turn the reins of the committee over to the next generation of leadership."

The tradition-bound Senate almost always awards the chairmanship to the most senior member of a committee, and with almost 40 years on the Armed Services panel, Thurmond's length of service is unapproachable by his colleagues.

Virginia Sen. John Warner, a mere 70 years old, is the next most highly ranked GOP senator on the committee, and is widely expected to take the reins once Thurmond gives them up.

In Other News:

Friday Dec. 5, 1997

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• Paula Jones Must Turn Over More Documents
• Clinton: Tax-Cut Talk Is Premature
• Recess Appointment Likely For Lee
• Thurmond To Give Up Armed Services Reins In 1998
• Pete Wilson's Former Maid Avoids Deportation
• Clinton's Four Medicare Commission Appointees
• Reno Refuses To Turn Over Memo
• Asian Americans Complain About Fund-Raising Probe

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