WASHINGTON -- In a quest for the Republican presidential nomination in 1996, there would be no better perch for Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas than the Senate Finance Committee, which will be at the center of efforts to cut taxes and change the welfare system.
That may be why Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas, who has also set his sights on the Republican nomination for the White House, saw to it that Mr. Gramm was not likely to get the seat, an assignment he had expected and talked about for months.
Although both senators deny it publicly, several Republican lawmakers and their aides said privately that Mr. Dole, who will be majority leader when the new Senate convenes next year, maneuvered to make sure that Mr. Gramm would be denied a seat.
Unfortunately for Mr. Gramm, the Finance Committee not only is the most high-profile assignment but also is the most lucrative for extracting big campaign contributions.
There were five Republican openings on the panel, but Mr. Dole made certain that five senators with more seniority than Mr. Gramm took the slots, according to the Republican officials. It was not a particularly hard sell, since the committee is a highly desirable assignment, and indeed some senators were happy to do a favor for the Republican leader.
While Mr. Gramm has told associates that Mr. Dole was behind what happened, he refused to accuse anyone publicly. "Any effort to keep me off the committee would be petty and mean-spirited and I don't choose to believe it," he said. "I'm going to be heavily involved in welfare reform, whether I'm on the committee or not."
Last week, Mr. Gramm presented his own proposal to cut taxes for the middle class, another area over which the panel has jurisdiction.
Sen. Alan K. Simpson of Wyoming, who took one of the five slots on the committee, denied that he was a participant in any plot to undermine a fellow Republican.
"This isn't the First Act of King Lear," Mr. Simpson said. "I'm not dividing the kingdom. There's no mystery, no fun and games."
Nonetheless, Mr. Simpson is shedding no tears for Mr Gramm, who helped lead the successful candidacy of Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi to be the assistant majority leader. Mr. Dole had wanted Mr. Simpson in the post.
By joining the committee -- and giving up a seat on the Environment and Public Works Committee -- Mr. Simpson also helped deny a slot to Mr. Lott.
Mr. Gramm had wanted to trade his seat on the Appropriations Committee, which is less desirable in this era of budget cutting, for a spot on the Finance Committee.
"My guess is Gramm wanted to get on the committee because it's so powerful," said Robert Lighthizer, a former Republican staff director of the committee. "It's a good way to raise money and a good way to stay in the news. So it's probably going to hurt him. It will be harder for him to get attention."
But it is likely, perhaps inevitable, that tension between Mr. Gramm and Mr. Dole will only escalate.
"Gramm lost one," said an official close to the Finance Committee. "But this is a war with many battles."