Jay Rockefeller to Retire From Senate in 2014from Streetsblog Capitol Hill by Tanya Snyder
Sen. Jay Rockefeller is expected to announce later today that he’s retiring from the Senate in 2014. The West Virginia Democrat will have served 30 years in the Senate. He chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, one of the four Senate committees – though probably the least of the four – that crafts the surface transportation authorization, with a focus on rail.
On Wednesday, Politico published a story asking who in the Senate would take up the mantle of the infrastructure bank if Sen. John Kerry becomes Secretary of State. Kay Bailey Hutchison, the Republican co-sponsor of Kerry’s infrastructure bank bill, left the Senate to pursue an ultimately unsuccessful run for governor. The Politico story mentioned Sen. Frank Lautenberg as another champion for the bank, but he’s 88 years old and faces a potential primary challenge from the ridiculously popular Newark Mayor Cory Booker.
Rockefeller would have been a natural to step into the role of pushing the infrastructure bank. He co-sponsored Lautenberg’s bill, a somewhat different vision than the one put forth by Kerry and Hutchison. But with Rockefeller leaving the Senate, Politico’s question becomes ever more salient. Who’s left in the Senate to push for one of the main components of President Obama’s infrastructure plan?