Dicks to succeed Murtha as top House Defense appropriator

Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) will succeed the late Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) as chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Defense subcommittee.

The move, approved by the House Democratic Caucus Tuesday, was expected, as Dicks had served as the second most-senior member of the subcommittee, which approves the military budget.

Dicks will leave his post as chairman of the Appropriations Interior, Environment and Related Agencies subcommittee, which oversees the annual budgets for the Interior Department and Environmental Protection Agency. Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) will succeed Dicks as the subcommittee's chairman.