Colleagues fear Inouye may get rolled by party

I think one of the more interesting changes that has come with the Democrats retaking power in Congress is how the committee power is no longer the same as it once was. I see party leaders as essentially writing the bills and controlling who gets the opportunity to place their opinions and suggestions on the table. I had always thought that being on the Appropriations Committee would have been one of the best jobs to have given that you could reward yourself and your constituents with earmarks and government spending projects more than in most other positions. However, with Senator Harry Reid taking the lead in dictating how funding is going to be doled out, it almost is like Senator Inouye is like a puppeteer who has to abide by the decisions of his party leaders rather than his own agenda. I hadn't realized the fact that very few bills now go through appropriations without significant influence from party leaders anymore and that if parties really want to get things funded they turn to the omnibus spending bills without individual member influence each year instead. To me this runs counter to what Jones would argue is the best way to go after achieving policy goals because it seems to be leading to more party escalation and less talk about how to weed out the unnecessary spending. It will be intriguing to see whether or not Senator Inouye tries to take back some of the power of his committee because if he doesn't then his position as Chairman really loses a lot of its relevance.