Wasserman Schultz enters race for top Democrat on Appropriations

Wasserman Schultz enters race for top Democrat on Appropriations-rollcall: The race to become the next top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee widened into a three-way contest Thursday. Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz declared her intention to run for the job that will be left vacant when Appropriations Chairwoman Nita M. Lowey of New York retires at the end of her current term. Lowey, 82, announced last month she would step down after 31 years in Congress. Wasserman Schultz, who chairs the Military Construction-VA Appropriations Subcommittee, will challenge two more senior appropriators for the top job: Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, the Energy-Water Subcommittee chairwoman, and Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, who heads the Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee. At 53, Wasserman Schultz is the youngest of the three candidates, a fact she sought to use to her advantage in her announcement letter to Democratic colleagues.