With the retirement of New York Republican Tom Reynolds, another slot will open on the powerful House Ways & Means Committee, a panel that will see an unusually high number of vacancies leading up to the 111th Congress, The Hill's Jackie Kucinich writes today. In all, six of the seventeen members currently sitting on the GOP side of the panel will not return next year.

Reynolds joins Reps. Jim McCrery, Jim Ramstad, Jerry Weller and Ron Lewis in retiring after this Congress. Missouri Rep. Kenny Hulshof is also leaving to run for governor. When McCrery, the ranking member on the committee, announced his resignation late last year, California Rep. Wally Herger and Michigan's Dave Camp launched individual campaigns for the panel's top GOP spot, and with so many other open seats, members are already jockeying for position.

The panel, which covers tax issues, trade, health care and public debt, has holes to fill on the GOP side. Reps. Tom Price, a physician from Georgia, Mike Conaway, a Texas Certified Public Accountant, and Kenny Marchant, a businessman also from Texas, are early campaigners, according to The Hill.

On the Democratic side, only Rep. Michael McNulty, of New York, is stepping aside, a situation similar to that on another powerful committee. In this space, we've noted the large number of vacancies on the House Appropriations Committee, where six Republicans and just one Democrat will retire after 2008.