Quite a bit of credit should be given here to the smarts of the newer wave of democrats in the house. They knew the 3R's weren't destined for power positions in an R coalition and that significant budget cutting lies ahead. Putting the 3R's in power positions gives them political cover so they can lay some of the blame on coalitions when they cut the budget or use the PFD. Somewhat ironically it will also give the R senate plenty of political cover to compromise as the result of having more powerful opposition. That could be a win-win.

For my money I think the real screaming is going to happen in the house finance committee when the public finally gets a chance to see how much budget cutting the house thinks it will take to woo the senate.