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GOP Gavel Fights: 11 House Committee Chairmanships In Play

GOP Gavel Fights: 11 House Committee Chairmanships In Play

By Emma Dumain and Matt Fuller, CQ Roll Call (MCT)

WASHINGTON — Almost every House member is on the stump this month, wrapping up re-election bids, with most cruising to new terms and a handful on both sides of the aisle scrambling to hang on to their jobs. But for a select few GOP lawmakers — those actively seeking committee chairmanships — the final days before Nov. 4 are as much about lining up support among colleagues as they are about connecting with voters.

Every two years, after the Election Day dust settles, members return to Capitol Hill for a lame-duck session that includes the selection of colleagues to serve as senior lawmakers on the chamber’s standing committees during the new Congress.

Republicans, widely expected to retain the majority this cycle, will be particularly busy during the lame duck, scheduled to begin Nov. 12, when it comes to doling out committee leadership appointments. Thanks to retirements, possible assignment shuffles and a 20-year rule capping panel leadership at three terms, as many as 11 out of 21 committees could see new chairmen in the 114th Congress.

A 12th committee could even be at play, if term-limited Agriculture Chairman Frank D. Lucas of Oklahoma decides to challenge Jeb Hensarling’s grip on the Financial Services gavel, as he recently suggested he might.

For the decidedly open chairmanships, some lawmakers are expected to win their desired posting without competition, while others will be facing off against their peers. All of the slots are filled by a secret ballot vote of members on the Republican Steering Committee, comprised of party leaders, top-tier panel chairmen and regional representatives.

Here’s a rundown of 11 committee gavels that are up for grabs, and which members stand to snag them.

• Oversight and Government Reform. Perhaps no race is as contentious and unclear. With Darrell Issa of California term-limited, at least four members are actively vying for the gavel: Jason Chaffetz of Utah, Michael R. Turner of Ohio, Jim Jordan of Ohio and John L. Mica of Florida. Chaffetz has been making a compelling case to colleagues that his singular focus on Oversight and Government Reform could be valuable in racking up points against the Obama administration, and his efforts to court the panel’s ranking Democrat, Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland, have seen some success. But Turner is also making a strong case, and while Speaker John A. Boehner is expected to stay out of it, the fellow Ohioan could be the speaker’s favorite. Of course, another Ohio Republican, Jordan, could cut into Turner’s home-state advantage. Mica faces the longest odds: He has a reputation for being an unreliable party spokesman and members worry that his quirks would be a distraction — and an embarrassment.

• Intelligence. While the speaker’s pick for a committee chairmen always matters, it matters most on three committees: Intelligence, Ethics and Administration. The speaker actually selects a member for those top panel spots, and that’s good news for Devin Nunes of California. Nunes is close to Boehner, and he’s made his desire for the Intelligence spot no secret. Of course, Peter T. King of New York is also going for it, as is Mike Pompeo of Kansas. But aides say Nunes is likely to get the nod over those competitors. The only wild card is Jeff Miller of Florida, who has more seniority than any of those competitors but currently heads the Veterans’ Affairs Committee.

• Veterans’ Affairs. This is a race only insofar as current Chairman Miller might be looking to move up. By almost every GOP account, Miller has done a solid job dealing with a number of high-profile issues, and he’ll likely stay put. However, if he were to make a bid for the Intelligence chairmanship and get it, there’d be plenty of suitors for the VA gavel. Among them: the current vice chairman of the committee, Gus Bilirakis of Florida, Doug Lamborn of Colorado, Phil Roe of Tennessee and Bill Flores of Texas.

• Education and the Workforce. Rep. Paul D. Ryan was the most recent member to get a waiver from leadership to serve a fourth term as a committee chairman; Rep. John Kline of Minnesota is poised to be the next. The current chairman of Education and the Workforce wants to stay, and GOP sources say the chair is his to keep, especially given his close relationship with Boehner. Should Kline not succeed getting a term-limit extension, Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina is next in line.

• Ways and Means. Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan is retiring, but his six-year term limit as the top Republican on the powerful tax-writing panel was coming up, anyway. Conventional wisdom holds that the gavel will go to now-Budget chairman Ryan, an all-around shining star of the Republican Party whom members love and are inclined to reward, within reason. It doesn’t mean that Ryan will be running unopposed: Texan Kevin Brady is one notch above Ryan in seniority on the committee, and his office confirms he’s still in the game.

• Budget. Assuming Ryan moves over to Ways and Means, the heir apparent on Budget is Vice-Chairman Tom Price of Georgia. A former chairman of the Republican Study Committee and Republican Policy Committee, he lost his leadership seat at the table in 2012 when Speaker John A. Boehner asked him to bow out of the race against Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington to lead the GOP Conference. The speaker gets to nominate the Budget chairman, and he surely owes Price a favor.

• Natural Resources. The overwhelming favorite is Rob Bishop of Utah. While he’s not the most senior, he’s positioned himself as the most likely. Don Young of Alaska has already served his stints as a chairman, and Louie Gohmert of Texas, while certainly interested, isn’t apt to get much support from the speaker or the rest of the Steering Committee for being a consistent thorn in leadership’s side. That leaves Bishop next in line, and he has proved himself in the eyes of Republican leaders to be a capable legislator and team player.

• Armed Services. Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon is retiring at the end of this year, leaving the Armed Services chairmanship available. It will probably get scooped up by Rep. Mac Thornberry of Texas, who vied — unsuccessfully — for the post in the past. Thornberry also isn’t hurt by McKeon’s implicit endorsement. He could face a challenge from J. Randy Forbes of Virginia, who aides say is “seriously considering” a bid for the gavel.

• Small Business. With Sam Graves of Missouri term-limited, the natural heir is Steve Chabot of Ohio. Chabot is the most senior Republican on the committee, and he once held the ranking member spot before he lost re-election in 2008. Chabot came back to Congress in the 2010 wave, and his seniority came with him. There could still be a race for the position, however, with Scott Tipton of Colorado, Richard Hanna of New York and Chris Collins of New York all showing some potential interest.

• Agriculture. With Lucas of Oklahoma ending his six-year run as chairman, lawmakers and aides expect K. Michael Conaway of Texas to be his replacement. Conaway isn’t the most senior member on the panel, but he’s the biggest team player of the four members ahead of him (plus, Robert W. Goodlatte of Virginia is already the chairman on Judiciary). Conaway will likely have backing from Boehner, who appointed Conaway in 2012 to lead the Ethics Committee.

• Ethics. This committee’s leadership — and membership — is by appointment only, and it’s not a posting for which any member lobbies. Assuming Conaway moves to Agriculture after just one term as Ethics chairman, Boehner could elevate a current panel member to succeed him, or he could look elsewhere in the conference. While it’s not a desired assignment, it’s still considered an honor to be given leadership responsibilities by the speaker.

Photo: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Why Senate Attendance Attacks Are Usually Bogus

Why Senate Attendance Attacks Are Usually Bogus

By Niels Lesniewski, CQ Roll Call

WASHINGTON — The worst-kept secret on Capitol Hill? Senators miss committee hearings and meetings. All the time.

Unless the senator wields the gavel, he or she may only show up for five minutes, or when it is their turn to ask questions. The results include guffaw-inducing scenes where even senior lawmakers enter the wrong hearing room, misidentify a witness and question the wrong person on the other side of the dais.

But out on the campaign trail, a less-than-stellar attendance record has become the political ammo in a number of Senate races, with criticism of incumbent lawmakers flying in Alaska, Kentucky, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Colorado and Iowa.

This cycle, much of the fodder has come from committee attendance records, at least compared to floor votes. It might look bad back home, but consistent committee attendance defies a reality on Capitol Hill.

“It might make for a compelling campaign ad to whack an incumbent for missing a committee hearing or markup, but the truth is that most legislating gets done outside of the hearing room,” one former Senate committee aide said in an email. “Obviously, it’s impossible for any senator to attend every meeting of the committees to which they belong, which is why staffers exist: to cover the hearing or ensure that the member can vote by proxy.”

After a Tuesday evening debate, Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC) conceded she had missed a delayed hearing for a fundraiser. Hagan faces state Speaker Thom Tillis, a Republican, in one of the most competitive races of the cycle.

“There was one, and what had happened at that hearing is that it was scheduled earlier in the day. Votes were scheduled and that hearing had to be postponed to later that day,” Hagan told reporters, according to a video clip of the news conference. “So yes, I did miss that one.”

Hagan’s campaign noted she also turned the attack back on Tillis, pointing to the Charlotte Observer editorial board’s criticism from last year in which they called for him to step aside from the legislature.

Politifact, in responding to an ad against Hagan, went through the public records of the Armed Services open hearings to tabulate attendance, finding a number of senators present less than half the time. The website noted the difficulty getting an accurate read because of the large number of closed meetings.

In the New Hampshire Senate race, former Sen. Scott P. Brown (R-MA) launched a new round of ads against Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) this week, pointing out in a new ad that she missed a hearing about the Islamic State, which is also known by the acronyms ISIS or ISIL.

“As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, she skipped a key hearing, where a top official gave an early warning about a new terrorist group known as ISIS,” says an announcer in the Brown campaign spot.

Shaheen’s campaign looked back at Brown’s own tenure in the Senate when he represented the neighbor state to the south, and they found numerous incidents of missed immigration and border policy hearings. Brown served on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee during his Senate tenure.

“The fact is that it was Scott Brown who missed every single one of his border security hearings while in the Senate, despite now campaigning on securing the border as a cornerstone of his campaign,” Shaheen campaign spokesman Harrell Kirstein said. “Jeanne Shaheen has participated in 16 hearings, briefings, classified meetings on ISIL and terrorist threats from Iraq and Syria, dating back to before Scott Brown even moved to New Hampshire.”

A new ad from GOP Rep. Cory Gardner, who is challenging Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO), claims the senator has been absent from public emerging-threat hearings at the Armed Services panel. Those records can be derived, but they aren’t kept by the committee itself, a committee aide said.

“The Senate Armed Services Committee does not keep an attendance record. However, committee transcripts list the senators that attended each hearing, so it would be possible to compile such records by searching the hearing transcripts,” the aide said.

Rep. Bruce Braley, the Democrat running for the Iowa seat being vacated retiring Sen. Tom Harkin, has faced criticism for attendance at the Oversight and Government Reform, and Veterans Affairs Committees.

In Kentucky, the campaign of Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, a Democrat, took aim at Minority Leader Mitch McConnell over his attendance at the Senate Agriculture Committee during the drafting of the most recent farm bill and at other meetings on appropriations bills.

“First we learn Mitch McConnell skipped hundreds of committee meetings. Where was he? He didn’t show up to vote on troop funding, the farm bill and the VA … on days he found time for a lobbyist fundraiser and was on two TV shows,” one such Grimes ad said.

The McConnell operation rebutted those attacks, pointing to McConnell’s role as leader, which included appointment of Republican conferees that negotiated the final farm bill deal.

“More times than not, a low attendance record isn’t nearly as bad as it is made out to be,” said Joshua Huder, a senior fellow at Georgetown’s Government Affairs Institute, who studies congressional operations.

Huder noted that in an average senator’s schedule, there may be 12 to 15 assignments at the subcommittee level alone, and that’s not including any other responsibilities of the job.

“Having a competent staff makes up for the lack of time and overlapping responsibilities. They are legislative equivalent of a central nervous system. They attend hearings the member cannot, research the issues, often know the issue and background better than the member themselves, and can fill in the workload gaps,” Huder said. “Frankly, having a good staff is far more important than showing up to a hearing.”

Staffers, of course, do most of the grunt work on major legislation too.

Photo: Mark Udall via Flickr

Meet The 5 Democrats On Trey Gowdy’s Benghazi Panel

Meet The 5 Democrats On Trey Gowdy’s Benghazi Panel

Pelosi Benghazi

AFP Photo/Win Mcnamee

Here we go again.

Her hand forced by Darrell Issa, Trey Gowdy and other House Republicans, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) nominated five Democrats to the select committee created to re-investigate the 2012 Benghazi attacks. The number-one goal for these Democrats, it seems, is to keep pressure on Gowdy and their Republican counterparts. It’s sure to be no easy task.

To that end, Pelosi chose members of her caucus who have been involved in previous Benghazi investigations. Pelosi’s five appointees have unique knowledge of the events, and will have to use it to challenge Republican talking points.

As The New York Times notes, if Gowdy raises issues that have been noted previously, these seasoned Democrats will be able to dismiss them as frivolous. If he introduces new evidence of wrongdoing, they will be able to raise questions about why it was not unearthed by agencies that have already investigated the attack.

In short, as Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) put it: “We need someone in the room to simply defend the truth.”

Here’s a look at the Democrats charged with defending the truth on the newly formed Benghazi panel.

Elijah Cummings

elijah cummings

If there is one lawmaker who knows what to expect from a Republican-led investigative panel, it’s Rep. Elijah Cummings. Cummings is a veteran. As the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, he has sparred with Republicans like Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) for countless hours over investigations into the IRS and Benghazi.

So, Elijah Cummings has a game plan for what lies ahead. He toldTheHuffington Post on Wednesday that his primary goal is to identify which pieces of information Republicans seek to investigate. This will, according to Cummings, limit conspiracy theories that may balloon if the parameters of the investigation are not defined.

Additionally, Rep. Cummings says he is fully ready to search for the truth, but he cannot ignore false narratives that have already been pushed by House Republicans.

“I’m looking for the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Whatever that is,” he said. “But you gotta keep in mind, you cannot disregard what we have seen, and that is allegations being made unfairly and in many instances untruthfully, and then there’s a search for the facts to back them up. So what that does is it puts us in a situation where it’s very difficult to have trust.”

Adam Smith

adam state

Photo: Washington State Dept. of Transportation via Flickr

Washington’s Adam Smith may be the most cynical Democrat nominated to the special committee. Smith, ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, has made his disdain for the various probes into the events of Benghazi very well known. In 2013, for example, he labeled the Benghazi investigation a “political witch hunt.”

“Republicans in Congress have turned the death of an ambassador and three other Americans into a political witch hunt. For nearly eight months, we have watched Republicans desperately and obsessively search for a scandal, which has not appeared,” Smith said in May 2013.

For Smith, the new panel is more of the same. In a press conference Wednesday, he lamented the formation of the investigative committee, but said he would do his best to set the record straight. “This is a committee that should not have been formed,” he said. “But since the Republicans chose to form it, I think we have to participate to do our best to bring out the correct arguments.”

Adam B. Schiff

Like Smith, Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-CA) argued that Democrats should not give any credibility to this new committee. Schiff, a member of the influential (especially in terms of the Benghazi investigations) Intelligence Committee, called the new effort a “colossal waste of time” on Fox News Sunday this month.

“We’ve had four bipartisan investigations already,” he told host Chris Wallace. Noting that another investigation will further waste taxpayer money, he added, “I don’t think it makes sense, really, for Democrats to participate…I think it’s just a tremendous red herring and a waste of taxpayer resources.”

Nevertheless, when Pelosi tapped him for the role on the committee, Schiff agreed. He made note of his reservations in a statement released Wednesday, writing: “I’ve been involved in the investigation into Benghazi from day one as a member of the Intelligence Committee because like every other American I want to know what happened, why it happened, how we can keep it from happening again, and I want to bring to justice those that perpetrated this horrible attack. But almost 18 months later, and after 8 reports from House and Senate committees and the Accountability Review Board, the questions that this select committee purports to investigate have been asked and answered time and time and time again.”

Linda T. Sanchez

Linda Sanchez

Photo: John Taylor via Flickr

Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA) is currently the ranking Democrat on the House Ethics Committee. Her attitude toward the Benghazi committee seems to put the emphasis on the families affected by the attack.

She said in a statement about her appointment: “Although I am disheartened that we are putting the families affected by this tragedy through this partisan exercise, I am committed to looking at the evidence and making decisions based on what that evidence shows.”

Despite her receptiveness, Sanchez has her reservations about keeping partisanship out of this committee.

“Leaving politics out of the room is going to be a challenge for this committee, but our responsibility to the American people is to carefully analyze the facts, and not just make up allegations,” her statement continues. “I hope my Republican colleagues will adhere to the same principles.”

Tammy Duckworth

Tammy Duckworth

Photo: The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare via Flickr

Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) may be the perfect Democrat for the new Benghazi committee. Duckworth is an Iraq War veteran who currently serves on the House Armed Services Committee and the House Committee on Oversight and Government reform. In her role on both, Duckworth has spent time investigating the terror attacks in Benghazi.

Importantly, Duckworth is prepared to play up her military experience in her new role. In a press conference accepting her position on the committee, Duckworth said: “I sat in a committee where the testimony of a man [Retired Adm. Mike Mullen, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff] with over 30 years of military experience on whether or not there were capacities for military aircraft to make it to Benghazi in time was questioned by someone with no military experience, questioning his judgment as a military commander.”

“I want to make sure that no American diplomat, no American life, no American servicemember is ever put in the same kind of jeopardy where we don’t have the resources there to protect them as they carry out this nation’s business around the world,” she added.

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