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Sen. Sherrod Brown will be the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee in the next Congress, providing the Ohio Democrat with a bigger stage to make his case that Wall Street banks are out of control and need to be reined in by the government.

On Friday, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced he would pass on the post, which was his for the taking under seniority rules, so he can concentrate on his party leadership duties as the No. 3 Democrat in the Senate.

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Schumers announcement ends months of speculation in Washington and New Yorks financial communities over who will be the lead Democrat on the panel.

While the issue has lost relevance now that Democrats will not control the Senate next year, it still means an outspoken critic of the countrys biggest banks will be the lead Democrat on a panel that oversees Wall Street rather than a senator whose home state includes the countrys financial center.

For Schumer, it was a dilemma to decide whether to take the Banking top spot. If he took the job, he likely would have felt pressure from panel liberals, such as Brown and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), to take an aggressive stance toward his home state industry. If he didnt, he risked alienating a constituency that would be key to the possibility of him one day becoming Senate Democratic leader.

Wall Street officials, meanwhile, would have been looking for a lighter touch from their home state senator, who has often turned to the industry in search of campaign dollars to help both himself and fellow Democrats in elections.

The fact that Brown would get the job if Schumer passed on the post put increased attention on his decision.

In recent years, Brown has emerged as one of Wall Streets fiercest critics in Congress.

Last year, he teamed up with Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) on a bill that would require the biggest banks to meet much tougher funding rules in what the industry saw as a de facto attempt to break up the largest Wall Street institutions.

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Wall Street critic Brown to be top Democrat on Banking