Durbin, Schumer at odds over power

Aides to Sens. Charles Schumer (N.Y.) and Dick Durbin (Ill.) are offering competing accounts of whether they made a power-sharing agreement, putting the Democratic leaders at odds just days after Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid’s (Nev.) retirement announcement triggered a shuffling of senior party roles.

{mosads}On Tuesday, Durbin’s office said Schumer, who is poised to succeed Reid as leader, agreed last week to support the Illinois senator staying on as Democratic whip after Reid steps down in 2016, but Schumer’s office denied any such deal, according to Politico, which first reported the differing accounts.

“When Sen. Durbin took Sen. Schumer aside and told him that he would not run for leader, the two senators agreed to support one another,” Durbin spokesman Ben Marter told Politico. “Schumer as leader and Durbin as whip. And they shook hands on it.”

But Schumer’s staff denies a deal was struck, with spokesman Matt House telling the newspaper, “That never happened and they know it.”

“That’s what a deal is,” Marter shot back.

The sides offered differing accounts of a meeting between Schumer and Durbin that came on the sidelines of the nightlong “vote-a-rama” late last week, according to The Washington Post.

The public spat between Durbin and Schumer, who for years lived together in a Capitol Hill house with former Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), breaks up what appeared to be quick unity among Senate Democratic leaders following Reid’s announcement Friday.

Reid, Durbin and Patty Murray (Wash.), the No. 4 Senate Democrat, all publicly supported Schumer’s bid to become the next leader. Durbin has long been the whip, but Murray has not ruled out whether she would seek that position in leadership elections shortly after the 2016 elections.

“Senator Murray is focused on her current job and isn’t going to be speculating about other positions under Senator Schumer in leadership elections two years from now,” Murray’s spokesman, Eli Zupnick, told the Post.