Washington Notebook: Wyden becomes Senate Finance chairman

   Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., last week took the reins of the influential Senate Finance Committee. He replaces Max Baucus who didn’t plan to run for reelection this fall and was recently confirmed by the Senate to be ambassador to China.
   Wyden gave up his chairmanship of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee to head Finance. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana was approved as chairman of Energy and Natural Resources. Landrieu in turn gave up her spot atop the Small Business Committee. 
   The Finance Committee will be instrumental in getting any major trade deals completed in the coming year. The Obama administration is close to finalizing a Transpacific Partnership Agreement between a dozen countries and is seeking “trade promotion authority” that would give negotiators more confidence that any deal struck would be ratified by Congress. Baucus had been leading the push for such authority. The administration is also negotiating a free trade agreement with the European Union.
   How Wyden will proceed on giving the White House the negotiating power it seeks is still an open question.