House Announces Committee Chairs
Last week The House Republican Caucus announced who will chair committees in the 112th Congress that will begin in January. Committee chairmen have a great deal of influence on the bills their committees have jurisdiction over. Committee chairmen largely determine what bills committees bring up for consideration and are sent to the full House. For the next two years these chairmen will have great power over any bill that impacts the horse industry.
One of the most powerful Committees is Appropriations which has jurisdiction over all spending bills in the House. Representative Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) beat out several other contenders the post. Rogers won of the Rolapp Award in 2001 for outstanding service to the horse industry.
In other highly contested campaigns for the gavels of important committees Representative Fred Upton (R-Mich.) will take over the Energy and Commerce Committee, and Representative Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) will be chair of the Financial Services Committee.
Representative Frank Lucas (R-OK) will chair the Agriculture Committee. This committee will have responsibility for drafting the next mulit-year farm bill that will be very import to the horse industry.
A listing of all new committee chairs is below.
Agriculture: Frank Lucas (OK)
Appropriations: Hal Rogers (KY)
Armed Services: Buck McKeon (CA)
Budget: Paul Ryan (WI)
Education and Labor: John Kline (MN)
Energy and Commerce: Fred Upton (MI)
Financial Services: Spencer Bachus (AL)
Foreign Affairs: Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL)
Homeland Security: Peter King (NY)
Judiciary: Lamar Smith (TX)
Natural Resources: Doc Hastings (WA)
Oversight and Government Reform: Darrell Issa (CA)
Science and Technology: Ralph Hall (TX)
Small Business: Sam Graves (MO)
Transportation and Infrastructure: John Mica (FL)
Veterans: Jeff Miller (FL)
Ways and Means: Dave Camp (MI)
If you have any questions please call the AHC.
