Free Republic

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said interim speaker, GOP Rep. Patrick McHenry, has ordered her to vacate her office in the Capitol building. She maintains her regular office in the Cannon House building. CNN viewed an email that was sent just after 6 p.m. ET from McHenry’s office to Pelosi’s office: “Going to reassign h-132 for speaker office use. Please vacate the space tomorrow.” "Sadly, because I am in California to mourn the loss of and pay tribute to my dear friend Dianne Feinstein, I am unable to retrieve my belongings at this time,” Pelosi said in a statement, referring...

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced at the Senate Democratic lunch Wednesday that he will nominate Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) next month to serve next year as Senate president pro tempore, a position that is third in line to the presidency. The nomination will need to be approved by the entire Senate Democratic Conference. Schumer also announced that the Senate Democratic caucus will hold its leadership election on Dec. 8. The job of Senate president pro tempore comes with a large, ornate office on the ground floor of the U.S. Capitol and a large security detail. The current office...

Following the death of Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), the most senior member of the Senate, will be sworn in as president pro-tempore of the Senate, placing him third in the line of succession to become president. Inouye will be formally sworn in once the chamber opens for business Monday, at 2 p.m. EDT, in a service just steps away from the long-time desk of Inouye's close friend, Byrd, who died at 3 a.m. Monday. Staff have already draped a black mohair cloth over Byrd's desk, placing white roses atop it, a standard symbol of mourning when...

<p>Robert C. Byrd, the West Virginia Democrat, no longer is the U.S. Senate's president pro tempore. And that means he's no longer fourth in the line of presidential succession. Neither is Mr. Byrd, 85, any longer the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, the nation's porkmeister in chief, if you will. He lost those positions — and his power — when Republicans retook control of the upper chamber.</p>