Crain's Chicago Business: Chicago-area Democrats move into bigger D.C. slots

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One says he'll be a cardinal—Beltway speak for someone with a hand on the nation's checkbook.

A second expects to be in a key position to fund Amtrak and spur work on the Create freight rail program. A third expects to be chair of a subcommittee that will monitor Facebook and other social media.

That's the word from Washington as Democrats prepare to take over majority control of the U.S. House later this week and Chicago-area members of Congress—all but one of them Democrats—finalize the new and generally more influential posts they'll hold.

As I wrote in November, the clout of local representatives is expanding. What's becoming clearer is how much.

The post directly sets funding for the courts, the IRS and regulatory agencies such as the Securities & Exchange Commission. That's not as directly impactful on Chicago as another subcommittee Quigley wanted that handles transportation and urban development, but it definitely gives him leverage and a seat at the table when internal committee horse-trading begins.The cardinal-to-be is North Sider Mike Quigley, who says he believes he will chair the financial services subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee.

Another Chicagoan, Dan Lipinski, says he's "fairly confident" he'll head the Transportation subcommittee on railroads, pipelines & hazardous materials.

That will allow him to push funding for the Create freight-rail decongestion system, a key item among area planners, and to back Amtrak as the passenger rail service reauthorization bill comes up later this year.

In an interview, Lipinski said he also may use the position to help broker a peace deal to renovate outmoded Union Station here, which is owned by Amtrak but mostly used by Metra.

Evanston Rep. Jan Schakowsky, a close associate of the likely new speaker, Nancy Pelosi, tells me she expects to keep her post as chief deputy whip and member of the Democratic Steering Committee, as well as become chair of the Digital Commerce & Consumer Affairs Subcommittee. That will allow her to inquire into items such as how social media has been used—and abused—in recent election campaigns.

As previously reported, Chicago Rep. Danny Davis appears positioned to take over as chair of the Ways & Means subcommittee on human resources, which deals with public assistance, food stamps, unemployment aid and other social spending that has been targeted by Republicans.

One of Davis' colleagues, Deerfield's Brad Schneider, hopes to join Davis on that panel and work on health care matters. I'm told it looks good, but no final action is likely until next week. That's also the apparent situation with the freshmen Democrats here: Chicagoan Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, Wheaton's Sean Casten and Naperville's Lauren Underwood.

One Illinois Democrat already has received her new position, and though she's from western Illinois rather than the Chicago area, you can expect to hear her name a lot. That's Cheri Bustos, the new head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. That's a tough job—she's in charge of keeping the Democrats in the majority—but offers lots of upside, as one-time DCCC chief Mayor Rahm Emanuel could tell you.