Enzi, Voinovich vie for Finance seat

The upcoming retirement of Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) has opened up a quiet lobbying campaign for his highly coveted seat on the powerful Finance Committee.

Sens. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and George Voinovich (R-Ohio) both have privately made their cases to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for a seat on the panel, which has broad jurisdiction over taxes, trade, healthcare and entitlements. McConnell’s endorsement would pave the way for one of the veteran senators to join the panel early next year.

{mosads}As a slightly more senior senator who seems poised to win a third term in 2008, Enzi appears to have the edge over Voinovich, who is also in his second term but is up for reelection in 2010.

Voinovich is seen as more of a wild card than Enzi on tax issues. In calling for the federal debt to be reduced, Voinovich has railed against extending tax cuts enacted under the Bush administration, and he threatened to oppose tax cuts backed by the administration in 2003.

Voinovich did vote for the tax cuts enacted in Bush’s first term.

Also, Republican officials say they expect McConnell to install Enzi to the post after he surprised Enzi earlier this year by awarding an open Finance Committee spot to the Senate GOP’s top campaign strategist, John Ensign (Nev.), who filled the seat after the death of Wyoming’s senior senator, Craig Thomas. Ensign had less seniority than Enzi and Voinovich, who both sought the seat.

Enzi is likely to be a reliable GOP vote on taxes, one tax lobbyist said: “My guess is that he would make all the votes Lott made.” As a Wyoming senator, he may also follow in the footsteps of Thomas and side with the oil and gas industry on tax matters, the lobbyist said.

A McConnell spokesman said no decision had been made on the seat yet.

After Lott in November made his surprise announcement to retire from the upper chamber at year’s end, some aides believed that McConnell would install one of the vulnerable Republican senators as a way to show clout in the Senate. Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), who is facing a tough reelection bid, has expressed interest in the Finance Committee seat, but he told The Hill last week that he would stay out of the race.

By staying out of the Finance race, Coleman said, if Republicans win a Senate majority and he wins reelection in 2008, he could become chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee because of term limits barring Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) from retaining the gavel and the retirement of the more senior Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb).

“A lot of people wait for a lot of years for that opportunity,” Coleman said.

That leaves a two-way race between Voinovich and Enzi for the 10th Republican spot on the panel.

“It’s almost like I’m a member of the Finance Committee,” Voinovich said, adding that he has been highly involved in many issues facing the panel, including reining in entitlement spending and reforming healthcare policy.

“There’s nobody more active around here on the issue of tax reform, which is much overdue,” Voinovich said after meeting with McConnell on Friday. “The fact is that I’ve been very, very conscientious in terms of fiscal responsibility and I think that’s the kind of person you need to have on that committee.”

However, Voinovich acknowledged, “Seniority does have something to do with” who ultimately gets the seat.

Enzi said he has been making his case to McConnell since Lott announced his retirement.

“I’m the only accountant in the United States Senate, and that’s the one [panel] that handles taxes, so that’s always been my dream committee,” Enzi said. “I was precluded from getting it for a long time because they don’t allow two senators from the same state to be on there, and Sen. Thomas was on there.”

Jessica Holzer contributed to this story.