December 30, 2006

The Republican Ranking Members in the Next US House

So to move away, briefly, from thoughts related to the movies ...

While most who are interested in the US House are understandably focused on what Democratic plans are in 2007, it's worth noting that there are a whole new set of Republicans who might weild at least a bit of authority over what occurs there. No, I'm obviously not taking about the GOP party leadership in the House (since the old team was largely reelected, minus Hastert and DeLay) - I'm talking about the new ranking members. The days of the textbook Congress are past of course, especially among Republicans, and seniority no longer guides who leads committees. So who have the Republicans named to be their ranking members on the top panels? Well, some are former chairmen who are now in the minority, like Jerry Lewis (CA) on Appropriations and Duncan Hunter (CA) on Armed Services. But there are a host of new faces too. Young Paul Ryan, 36, is the new top Republican on the Budget committee. There are a couple of Floridians who are newly well-placed too - John Mica is the new top Republican on the Transportation Committee and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen will be the new ranking member on International Relations. Spencer Bachus (AL) outhustled and outfundraised the more-senior Richard Baker (LA) for the top slot on the Financial Services Committee, and 83 year old Ralph Hall (TX), the oldest member of the House, will be the new ranking member of the Science Committee. Hall beat out former Science Committee chairman and current Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Sensenbrenner (WI) for that post. Lamar Smith (TX) is replacing Sensenbrenner as the top Republican on Judiciary.

Posted by armand at December 30, 2006 02:56 PM | TrackBack | Posted to Politics


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