More bad news from the already disappointing GOP Congress — despite being the tireless Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, Senator Sessions has been pushed out of being Chairman by a party detail about seniority , which was determined by a coin toss.

Ever the gentleman, Sessions calls the replacement Chairman, Mike Enzi, his “friend” but what kind of friend would screw a close associate by demanding a position he didn’t earn on the basis of a fluke of luck? (One also wonders whether Mitch McConnell was nudging in the background.)

Sessions Comments on Committee Plans for 2015, Press Release, December 17, 2014 WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today regarding committee plans for next year and his friend Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY): “My good friend Mike and I have been close since we both entered the Senate together 18 years ago. We will long remain good and close friends. We have talked and I am deferring to his seniority so that he can lead the Budget Committee as its Chairman beginning in 2015. Mike graciously deferred to me two years ago after he timed out on HELP as Ranking Member, and it has been my enormous privilege to serve as the panel’s Ranking Member these last four years, as well as to serve as the Judiciary Ranking Member for the two years before that. The Budget Committee has an exceptional staff and I am proud of what we have accomplished. Mike is an accountant and a small businessman who understands the need to balance budgets and tell the truth about the numbers. He is a man of integrity and principle, respected by all of his Senate colleagues. I am eager to assist him next year, and I hope to tackle the important issue of welfare reform. (Continues)

carpetbagger

Enzi is a, despite kind words. Nobody in the Senate has worked harder in the minority party position to defend budget issues, in particular how open-borders immigration is mauling the citizen worker , than Senator Sessions.

Jeff Sessions has earned the chairmanship, and Enzi using a coin toss to screw a friend makes Enzi a rat and a half.

Breitbart curiously tried to sugarcoat the slight (Alabama’s Sessions Steps Aside in Budget Chair Race…), remarking:

Sessions will now likely also play, as senior conservative statesman, a leading role in the 2016 presidential process–able to focus much of his time now on influencing the political debate from a position of extraordinary respect among his Senate colleagues. He’ll also be able to focus on helping the Republican Party rebrand itself in a more populist way…

Really? Sessions will have more time but less power? That doesn’t sound like much of an advantage — unless he decides to run for President.