The Senate Republican Conference on Wednesday endorsed Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas and Thad Cochran of Mississippi to replace indicted Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens as the top Republicans on two powerful panels.

Hutchison will step in for Stevens as the lead Republican on the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, and Cochran will fill Stevens’ top role on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.

The openings were created when Stevens was forced to step down Tuesday after being indicted on seven felony charges of failing to report hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of gifts on his Senate financial disclosure statements. Stevens’ arraignment is scheduled for 1 p.m. Thursday in U.S. District Court in Washington.

Stevens, as required by Republican rules, also gave up his ranking position on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery, and his fellow Republicans chose New Mexico’s Pete V. Domenici to take his place on that panel.

Senate Republicans ratified all three changes by acclamation, said Sam Brownback, R-Kan.

Hutchison, who is planning a 2010 gubernatorial bid, is the third most senior Republican on the Commerce panel, after Stevens and presumptive GOP presidential nominee John McCain of Arizona. She said she will stay on as ranking Republican on the Aviation Subcommittee as well.

Cochran is the top Republican on the full Appropriations Committee. He took over for Stevens as chairman of that panel in the 109th Congress, after GOP-imposed term limits forced Stevens to surrender the gavel.

With the Senate on the verge of a five-week recess and little legislative activity expected to occur in the fall, Cochran, Hutchison and Domenici are likely to serve largely as caretakers of each panel through the end of he 110th Congress.

Stevens will retain his seats on those panels and may, by virtue of his seniority in the Senate and his close ties to his colleagues, continue to play a role in legislative decision.

“He will not be ranking Republican, but he’ll still be on the committee, and I’ll work with him,” said Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawaii, who leads both the commerce and defense appropriations panel and is a close personal friend of Stevens.

The Senate’s longest-serving Republican continued to garner gestures of support from his colleagues.

The 84-year-old lawmaker attended a Homeland Security and Government Affairs markup where he participated in debate over a bill aimed at eliminating improper tax payments (S 2583).

Fellow committee member George V. Voinovich, R-Ohio, reached out to squeeze Stevens’ shoulder when Stevens took his seat next to Voinovich on the dais. Stevens returned the gesture.

Later, as Stevens was leaving a vote on the Senate floor, he could be seen receiving a hug and a peck on the cheek from Arkansas Democrat Blanche Lincoln.

Inouye described a conversation he’d had with Stevens after learning of the indictment.

“I just told him that he’s my friend and he remained my friend,” he said.

Stevens, who maintains he is innocent, steadfastly declined comment to the hordes of reporters that followed him through the halls of the Capitol.

“You guys are sort of wasting your time,” Stevens told reporters peppering him with questions.

Stevens is charged with concealed his receipt of more than $250,000 in benefits from oil services company VECO Corp. and its former chief executive Bill Allen, from 1999 to 2006.

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Charles E. Schumer declined to comment on the extent to which Democratic challenger Mark Begich’s bid to oust Stevens in November might be bolstered by Tuesday’s indictment. Begich, mayor of Anchorage, was strongly recruited to run against Stevens.

After Stevens was indicted, CQ Politics changed its rating of the race from Leans Republican to Leans Democrat.

Jonathan Alllen and Kathryn A. Wolfe contributed to this story.