Change will not be restricted to the White House come January.  Several committee leadership positions will change with the next Congress.  While the new faces won’t be known until early in January, at least two members of the House Science and Technology Committee will leave after the end of the 110th Congress (there may or may not be a ‘lame duck’ session between now and the end of the year to address economic recovery legislation).  Mark Udall, (D-Colorado) will join the Senate next year, meaning he will leave the chair of the Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee.  Nick Lampson (D-Texas), lost his re-election campaign, and will not return as chair of the Energy and Environment Subcommittee.  Kevin may have a better sense of who might fill these spots, but the current vice-chairs of these committees are Jerry McEnerny of California (Energy and Environment) and Charlie Melancon of Louisiana (Space and Aeronautics).

There will be over 40 new members of the House of Representatives and at least eight new Senators in the next Congress.  There will likely be more changes in committee leadership on both sides of the aisle.  Expect a new chair of the Senate Commerce Committee (which has jurisdiction over many science agencies), as Senator Inouye will move from that committee to chair the Appropriations Committee (Senator Byrd has opted to step down).  The shuffle for committee chairs and ranking member status will not be resolved officially until the start of the 111th Congress, but as Kevin noted in his recent post, some of these positions will be actual contests rather than moving to fill open spaces.