Personnel Notes

The year-end staff shuffle continued on Thursday with the Senate Finance Committee announcing that Capitol Hill veteran will head up the panel's policy operation. 

Amber Cottle, who has spent five years on the panel, has been tapped as the new Democratic staff director where she will lead the committee’s day-to-day operations and serve as the chief strategist for long-term policy plans as the panel undertakes a tax code overhaul next year.

"She is well respected in the business, labor, policy and academic communities and is known for her leadership and dedication," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said in a statement.

"She is also an expert negotiator, skills which will prove vital in my efforts to reform the nation’s tax system."

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Senate Democrats confirmed their committee assignments for the next Congress on Wednesday, including Elizabeth Warren as the newest member of the Banking panel. 

The Senate Banking Committee is adding three members including Warren, a harsh critic of Wall Street who edged out GOP Sen. Scott Brown in Massachusetts, whose assignment had previously been confirmed.

The panel also tapped West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, who had been expected to join, along with newly elected Heidi Heitkamp, who won a close election to hold the seat for Democrats in North Dakota. 

“At a time when we our economy is still wounded and recovering ever so slowly, it is important that our community banks and local credit unions serve their customers and communities to the best of their ability,” Manchin said. 

Sen. Jim DeMint's (R-S.C.) announcement on Thursday that he will resign from the Senate opens up the top Republican position on a powerful committee.

DeMint was set to succeed Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (Texas) as the ranking Republican on the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee until he revealed on Thursday that he would step down to lead the conservative Heritage Foundation.

Seven House Repubicans will be joining the Agriculture Committee in January, Chairman Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) announced late Wednesday.

The new members are: Rep. Dan Benishek (Mich.), Chris Collins (N.Y.), Rodney Davis (Ill.), Jeff Denham (Calif.), Richard Hudson (N.C.), Doug LaMalfa (Calif.) and Ted Yoho (Fla.).

"I am pleased to welcome our new Republican members to the House Agriculture Committee. I look forward to working with all of them in the next Congress as we continue to ensure the health and vitality of production agriculture and rural economies," said Lucas.

Leadership removed conservative Rep. Tim Huelskamp (Kan.) from the committee to punish him for bucking leadership on too many votes. 

In total, nine of this year's members will not be returning. Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio) lost in a primary and Rep. Tim Johnson (R-Ill.) retired. Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.) is heading to Financial Services. Also not coming back are: Reps. Jeff Fortenberry (Neb.), Randy Hultgren (Ill.), Bobby Schilling (Ill.), Steve Fincher (Tenn.) and Renee Ellmers (N.C.). 

Lucas is struggling to get a five-year farm bill enacted this month as part of a fiscal-cliff deal. He has been in regular talks with Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) about getting the deal in the package. Key to that will be coming to a compromise on food-stamp cuts. The House farm bill has $12 billion more in food-stamp cuts than the $4 billion in the Senate bill. 

His victory is a rebuke to the founding members of the Republican Study Committee, who had backed Rep. Tom Graves.

Retiring Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) has signed a contract with the agency run by Rahm Emanuel's brother. 

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's communications director is departing to join the Financial Services Forum, The Hill has confirmed. 

Kenneth Baer, President Obama's top budget spokesman, will be leaving his position next week, The Hill has confirmed. 

As the head of communications for the Office of Management and Budget and a key adviser to White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew, Baer has played a pivotal role in messaging during the big fiscal showdowns with Congress during this administration. He has been with OMB since the start of the Obama administration, serving budget directors Peter Orszag, Lew and acting director Jeff Zients. Prior to coming to government, Baer co-founded the publication Democracy: A Journal of Ideas. 

The Peterson Institute for International Economics on Friday named Adam Posen to succeed Fred Bergsten as its president.

Posen, 45, currently serves as an adviser to the Bank of England, where he has advocated credit easing to boost economic growth. He has collaborated closely with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke in the past and, like Bernanke, is viewed as dovish on monetary policy, preferring stimulus more than other central bankers.

Under Bergsten's leadership, the Peterson Institute has become a major force in economic policymaking in Washington, and Posen's new post can be expected to give his ideas greater prominence. Bergsten's specialty was currency policy and he became a leading voice for forcing China to revalue its currency to give U.S. exporters a greater shot at succeeding in China.

Steve Bartlett will step down as president and CEO of the Financial Services Roundtable at the end of the year.

Bartlett played a big role in the battle over the Wall Street reform law, otherwise known as Dodd-Frank. After more than 12 years leading the business group, Bartlett, a former Republican House lawmaker from Texas, chose to step down in 2012 and announced his decision to the group's board of directors this week. 

Tom Wilson, chairman of the Financial Services Roundtable and chairman, president and CEO of Allstate Corp., said in a statement that Bartlett "always put his members first."