NBC News: Rangel Agrees to Give Up Ways & Means Gavel – Or Will He?

(MSNBC) - After being admonished by an ethics panel for accepting corporate-sponsored trips to the Caribbean, Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., will give his chairmanship of the powerful House Ways and Means committee, NBC News has learned. The top spot may temporarily go to Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., according to leadership sources, or to Rep. Pete Stark of California, the committee's second-ranking Democrat.

UPDATE: (Roll Call) - Despite senior level sources saying Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) planned to surrender his gavel Tuesday night in the wake of an ethics probe, Rangel himself told reporters he isn’t going anywhere. Asked after a meeting with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) if he is still going to be the chairman, Rangel said, “You bet your life.”