GOP Offers Energy Committee Seat To Bill Cassidy

U.S. Rep. Bill Cassidy has been offered a seat on the Senate's energy committee is he defeats incumbent U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu.

Incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the move would undercut Landrieu's argument that her position on the powerful committee gives her clout and that she can use that power to advance energy causes for the state.

"I'm confident Dr. Cassidy will use this position to succeed where Sen. Landrieu failed," McConnell said in a statement to the Associated Press. “Louisiana will have a senator that will use his clout to support energy jobs, not President Obama.”

"I'm excited to serve on the Energy Committee and will use that seat to stand up to President Obama, to deliver a floor vote on the Keystone XL Pipeline and to protect Louisiana's energy industry," Cassidy said in a statement. "Senator Landrieu may have talked the talk on energy but she never walked the walk."

While she will no longer serve as the committee's chair in the GOP-led Senate in the next Congress, Landrieu has campaigned hard on her place as the committee's senior Democrat — and Cassidy's inability to get a seat on the panel as a freshman senator.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.