Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid: ‘Robert Byrd is chairman’

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Wednesday downplayed speculation that Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) would be replaced as chairman of the Appropriations Committee, saying he would continue to head the powerful panel “until something else comes up.”

The two men spoke Monday night, and Reid suggested he was confident in the 90-year-old veteran’s ability to stay at the top of the panel as appropriations season kicks off.

{mosads}“Sen. Byrd is chairman of the committee,” Reid said. “I’ve served with him for a number of years. And we’re going to continue that until something else comes up.”

Reid’s comments came as the issue of Byrd’s health and his ability to run the panel emerged at a closed-door meeting Tuesday with a number of Democratic senators. Byrd, the longest-serving senator in history, has since been in contact with members to ensure them he can stay on as chairman, according to two Democratic aides.

Jesse Jacobs, a spokesman for Byrd, declined to comment about any conversations the senator might have had with other members.

Questions about Byrd’s fitness to run the panel have grown since he was initially hospitalized in February after suffering a fall in his home and developed infections from medication he had been taking.

J. Taylor Rushing contributed to this article.