Yesterday we talked a little about the battles for position inside the two House conferences. It's all been sorted out and these tare the new Committee Chairs that the Republican Steering Committee will submit to the full GOP conference for a rubber stamp. Boehner pretty much keep the extremists out of important positions, depending, of course, on how you define "extremist."He got to pick Intelligence and Ethics on his own and he opted for, respectively, Devin Nunes, the Boehner suck-up who famously accused Justin Amash (R-MI) of being an Al Qaeda tool, and Charlie Dent. Candice Miller will stay on as Administration Chair ("Look we have a girl!") and Pete Sessions is Rules Chairman again. Here's the rest:
Agriculture- Mike Conaway (R-TX)Appropriations- Hal Rogers (R-KY)Armed Services- Mac Thornberry (R-TX)Budget- Tom Price (R-GA)Education & the Workforce- John Kline (R-MN)Energy & Commerce- Fred Upton (R-MI)Financial Services- Jeb Hensarling (R-TX)Foreign Affairs- Ed Royce (R-CA)Homeland Security- Michael McCaul (R-TX)Judiciary- Bob Goodlatte (R-VA)Natural Resources- Rob Bishop (R-UT)Oversight & Government Reform- Jason Chaffetz (R-UT)Science, Space, and Technology- Lamar Smith (R-TX)Small Business- Steve Chabot (R-OH)Transportation & Infrastructure- Bill Shuster (R-PA)Veterans’ Affairs-Jeff Miller (R-FL)Ways & Means- Paul Ryan (R-WI)
No real surprises there, although there were a couple of contested races. It was a good day for Boehner loyalists and not a good day for Tea Party extremists looking to cause dissension in Zombieland. UPDATERanking members were announced for the sclerotic party today:
• Appropriations- Nita Lowey again• Budget- Chris Van Hollen again• Energy and Commerce Committee- Frank Pallone• Financial Services- Maxine Waters again• Rules- Louise Slaughter again• Ways and Means- Sander Levin again• Agriculture- Collin Peterson again• Armed Services- Adam Smith again• Education and the Workforce- Bobby Scott• Foreign Affairs- Eliot Engel again• Homeland Security- Bennie Thompson again• Judiciary- John Conyers again• Natural Resources- Raul Grijalva• Oversight- Elijah Cummings again• Science, Space, and Technology- Eddie Bernice Johnson again• Small Business- Nydia Velázquez again• Transportation and Infrastructure- Pete DeFazio• Veterans’ Affairs- Corrine Brown