Hal Rogers wants to chair the House Appropriations committee. But according to POLITICO he is engaged in a tough fight for that position, although for many he is the most likely to win that battle.
House Republicans avoided any serious bloodletting in their leadership races, but the campaigns for two powerful committee chairmanships are getting downright nasty.
The stakes are enormous: The Appropriations Committee is ground zero for efforts to curb earmarks and federal spending, both goals of the tea party movement that helped sweep the GOP into power.
Key conservative groups off the Hill are exerting pressure on House Speaker-in-waiting John Boehner and other GOP leaders not to issue waivers to former committee chairmen Jerry Lewis of California.
Lewis is seeking a waiver to serve another term atop the spending panel but faces stiff competition not only from GOPs leadership — which has sent signals that it is averse to circumventing term limits — but also other lawmakers seeking the gavel.
Favorite among those lawmakers is Kentucky Rep. Hal Rogers, a 29-year veteran of Congress. He has reached out to freshmen and incumbents, promising reform and to keep in place the earmark moratorium. Rogers is also making clear that it’s not smart for the conference to reverse its rules on term limits. Georgia Rep. Jack Kingston is also being floated as a contender who favors an earmark ban.[POLITICO]
Didn't we hear that ol' Hal Rogers is the designated 'Porker of the Year', the man that built that white elephant, The Center for Rural Development in Somerset?
Why would they put him on that committee when we already have Charles Rangel? Give me a break.
Posted by: the country club republican | November 16, 2010 at 09:20 AM