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From Politico: GOP taps freshmen for prime spots

Thursday, March 31, 2011 18:20

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By RICHARD E. COHEN & JAKE SHERMAN & SIMMI AUJLA

House Republicans have tapped 11 freshmen for prime committee spots Thursday, as the Republican Steering Committee began to award its much-sought plums.

Six of them gained seats on the Energy and Commerce committee – including Rep. Charlie Bass (R-N.H.), who served on the panel before he lost reelection in 2006. Two first-termers will join the powerful, tax-writing Ways and Means panel. Three will join the Appropriations committee.

In addition, two new women — Lynn Jenkins (R-Kan.) and Diane Black (R-Tenn.) — will join Ways and Means, and Cathy McMorris-Rodgers (R-Wash.) will switch from three House committees to Energy and Commerce. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) is joining the Appropriations committee.

The picks by the leadership-controlled Steering Committee show regional balance, and a coterie of members who have been party activists. Interestingly, none of the five freshmen from Speaker-designate John Boehner’s home state of Ohio landed on the initial lists. Three Kansans are among the winners for top committee posts. The lists were obtained by POLITICO from multiple sources in House Republican circles.

For many members, these move into positions of prime influence are a key move in their House career. Rep. Chris Lee (R-N.Y.) said he spent six months lobbying GOP leaders and other Steering Committee members for a seat on Ways and Means.

“I laid out in a paper what I have accomplished during my first term in the House,” Lee told POLITICO.

With his selection, he said that he plans to focus on tax reform, international trade, Social Security reform and revisions to the new health-reform law.

Also on Ways and Means will be Vern Buchanan (Fla.), Jim Gerlach (Pa.), Tom Price (Ga.), Adrian Smith (Neb.), Lynn Jenkins (Kan.), Erik Paulsen (Minn.), Aaron Schock (Ill.), and freshmen Rick Berg (N.D.) and Black (Tenn.)

Twelve new members have been selected to join Energy and Commerce, including McMorris Rogers, Pete Olsen (Texas), Brian Bilbray (Calif.), Brett Guthrie (Ky.), Greg Harper (Miss.), Bill Cassidy (La.), Bass, and first-termers Cory Gardner (Colo.), Mike Pompeo (Kan.), Adam Kinzinger (Ill.), David McKinley (W.Va.), and Morgan Griffith (Va.).

Freshmen Kevin Yoder (Kan.), Alan Nunnelee (Miss.) and Steve Womack (Ark.) have been tapped for the Appropriations committee. Lummis, Charlie Dent (Pa.), Mario Diaz-Balart (Fla.), Jeff Flake (Ariz.) and Steve Austria (Ohio) were among the incumbents tapped for Appropriations. The panel also will shrink in size from 60 members to 50.

McMorris Rodgers and Price are both members of House Republican leadership. In addition, Gardner was on the GOP’s transition committee.

Placing freshman on prime committees such as Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce are the fruits of an effort spurred by leadership – specifically incoming House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and incoming House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) – to place “reform-minded conservatives” in positions of power.

Since the election, Boehner placed freshmen at the elected leadership table, and on the steering committee, the panel that recommends chairmen and committee rosters to the House Republican Conference.

The new GOP members bring the party’s total to 30 on Energy and Commerce. Democrats tentatively have been allotted 22 seats on the panel, according to a source. In the 111th Congress, the ratio has been 36 Democrats and 23 Republicans. The seven-seat reduction is in line with Boehner’s promise to reduce the size of many House committees. But that decision will cause pain among existing Energy and Commerce Democrats.

With six Democrats having retired or lost reelection, that will likely require that eight more Democrats to be bumped from the panel — presumably from the bottom of the committee roster. The eight most junior Democrats on the energy committee are Peter Welch (Vt.), Bruce Braley (Iowa), Betty Sutton (Ohio), Jerry McNerney (Calif.), Chris Murphy (Conn.), John Sarbanes (Md.), Kathy Castor (Fla.), and Donna Christensen (V.I.).

Committee assignments must be ratified by the full House Republican Conference, which is expected to do that next week.

Robin Bravender contributed to this report.

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