By Kelly Field

Washington

Sen. Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat and chairman of the appropriations subcommittee that finances education and biomedical research, will take the helm of the Senate health and education committee, his office announced on Wednesday.

In a statement, Mr. Harkin promised to "carry on the legacy of Sen. Ted Kennedy," the panel's former chairman who died of brain cancer last month after a 47-year Senate career.

Mr. Harkin, who is now chairman of the agriculture committee, was second in line for the education chairmanship, after Sen. Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, a close friend of Senator Kennedy's. Mr. Dodd, who led the committee's debate over health care during Mr. Kennedy's illness, announced Wednesday that he will remain chairman of the Senate banking committee, a post that will give him continued oversight over the troubled financial-services sector.

Mr. Harkin's decision to accept the chairmanship came as somewhat of a surprise to higher-education lobbyists, many of whom thought the post would go to Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski of Maryland, who was third in line for the position. While Mr. Harkin, a longtime supporter of public-health and biomedical research, was said to be interested in the job, some lobbyists believed he would have a hard time relinquishing control of the agriculture committee because the panel is so critical to his rural constituents.

As chairman of the education panel, formally known as the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, Mr. Harkin will be responsible for crafting legislation to end the federally guaranteed student-loan program, as President Obama has proposed. The U.S. House of Representatives' education committee has already passed its version of the bill (HR 3221), and the House is expected to bring it to the floor for a vote as early as next week.

Some higher-education lobbyists hope the Senate committee, under Mr. Harkin's leadership, will direct more of the savings to Pell Grants than the House proposal does. The House bill would spend some of the money that would be freed up by ending subsidies to banks and other lenders on community colleges and early-learning programs, among other priorities. While Senator Harkin has raised doubts about the president's plan to make Pell Grants an entitlement, he has historically been a strong supporter of the program, and lobbyists say he may want to spend more of the bill's savings on the grants.

Mr. Harkin will retain control of the Senate appropriations subcommittee for education and biomedical research. As the top Democrat on that panel, he has been especially generous to research, working with his then-Republican counterpart—Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania—to double spending on the National Institutes of Health between 1998 and 2003 (though spending on the agency has slowed some since then). Mr. Harkin has also led efforts to roll back President George W. Bush's restrictions on federal stem-cell research.

Senator Harkin has also been a longtime champion of individuals with disabilities and played a key role in crafting the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Congress reauthorized that bill last year.