WASHINGTON -- Pennsylvania's Sen.-elect Bob Casey will receive appointments to the Senate's Agriculture, Banking and Foreign Relations committees when Democrats assume control of Congress in January, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada announced yesterday.

The Scranton Democrat also will receive appointments on the Special Committee on Aging, which reviews major programs like Medicare and Social Security, and the Joint Economic Committee, which also includes House members. Neither body has legislative powers.

Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., who lost his bid for re-election last week, now serves on the Senate Agriculture and Banking committees, and also has a Finance Committee seat.

Republican Sen. Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania's senior senator, will lose his chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee next year, when Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy takes the gavel.

West Virginia's two Democratic senators each will receive chairmanships. Sen. Robert Byrd will become chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, while Sen. Jay Rockefeller will head the Intelligence Committee.