By Alan K. Ota and Libby George CQ Staff
Published: 09-04-08
Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman says he will continue to caucus with Democrats for the remainder of the 110th Congress.
The independent Connecticut senator who is chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and was the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2000 declined to discuss what might happen in the next Congress.
Lieberman delivered a speech on behalf of presumed Republican presidential nominee and Senate colleague John McCain during the Republican convention Tuesday night. He was widely reported to have been under consideration for selection as McCain’s running mate.
“You know the session’s almost over” Lieberman said Wednesday. “And as I said last night I remain a Democrat. A disappointed Democrat but a Democrat.”
Lieberman said he has not had a recent discussion with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid D-Nev. about his future in the Democratic caucus and his plans for his chairmanship next year.
The top Senate Democrat has been unwilling in recent weeks to chastise or threaten Lieberman for his honeymoon with the GOP standard bearer and has simply continued to insist there be no surprises from that unusual bipartisan relationship.
Lieberman’s enthusiastic backing of the GOP nominee has triggered speculation that he might be in line for a Cabinet post if McCain is elected perhaps secretary of state.
Also unclear is whether Lieberman might switch caucus affiliations in the Senate should Democratic nominee Barack Obama win the presidency in November.
During a foreign and trade policy forum at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute Lieberman discussed his growing discomfort with Democratic resistance to free trade deals.
“Part of it is that on some critical issues to me and I think to our country the Democratic party has changed” Lieberman said.
He noted the party’s shift from the President Bill Clinton’s embrace of the North American Free Trade Agreement to Obama’s cooler stance which includes a call for a potential renogotiation of the deal.
Lieberman said Obama’s trade policy would put us in “a much worse shape economically . . . to be diplomatic.”
Lieberman’s “party unity” score — the percentage of the time he voted with most Democrats against most Republicans on legislative votes that broke down along party lines — so far in 2008 is 80 percent. That figure is just one percent below his 2007 score and one that is in line with his historical support of the party.
