Appropriations

The House Republican Steering Committee late Thursday chose three freshmen to join the Appropriations Committee, sources confirmed Friday.

Reps.-elect Kevin Yoder (Kan.), Alan Nunnelee (Miss.) and Steve Womack (Ark.) will join the spending panel.

In the past, members had to wait years for the chance to join the spending panel, but House Speaker-designate John Boehner (R-Ohio) has vowed to remake it into the engine of spending cuts.

While the GOP has tapped longtime appropriator and earmark proponent Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) to chair the panel, it has also given a slot to anti-earmark crusader Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.).

Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) will likely seek the top Democratic slot on the defense spending subcommittee while acknowledging that his caucus must make the final decision. 

Dicks, the senior Democratic member of the spending panel, also has expressed interest in leading the Subcommittee on Defense. 

"We'll have to wait and see now," he told reporters Thursday. "I will be on the subcommittee and at one point or the other there's going to be more discussion on this issue. I will abide by whatever the caucus decides."

On Thursday, Dicks received overwhelming support — on a 123-64 vote — to become the ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, defeating Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.).

The bill, which passed 212-206 largely along party lines, freezes 2011 discretionary appropriations at the current level.

Newly minted House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) outlined several of his priorities Wednesday, including the creation of investigative teams to examine spending issues within specific programs. 

Rogers, who will helm the panel when House Republicans take over the majority in the 112th Congress, said he intends to cut spending back to fiscal 2008 levels, pass all 12 spending bills in the House and uphold the earmark ban pushed by his party.

To root out areas to cut spending, Rogers wants to form panels of committee members to "go after a specific problem," he said during a conference call with reporters. 

The new chairman said he had spoken with Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) on the possibility of creating an oversight subcommittee but thought the move might discourage the 12 subpanels from performing their own budgetary oversight. He's calling on the subcommittees to be "vigorous in their oversight," so he's opted for the investigative panels to be formed when needed to look at specific spending issues. 

The House Democratic Steering Committee on Wednesday voted to recommend Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) be named the next ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, Democratic aides confirmed. 

The Steering Committee also decided that Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) should serve as Financial Services Committee ranking member, and Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) should be ranking member of Energy and Commerce. They ran unopposed. The Steering Committee did not yet decide the contested Ways and Means ranking member race between Reps. Sandy Levin (D-Mich.) and Richard Neal (D-Mass.), an aide said.

Dicks has the most seniority of Democrats on the Appropriations panel after Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.), who is retiring.

The Democratic Caucus is expected to rubber-stamp the steering committee choice when it meets tomorrow, although there may actually be a formal vote since junior committee member Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.) may ask to be considered.

The House on Wednesday will take up a $1.1 trillion continuing resolution to fund the government though Sept. 30.

Bachus won the endorsement to keep his post as top-ranking Republican over Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.).

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) has joined a letter to House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) opposing President Obama's proposal for a two-year pay freeze for civilian federal workers.

The Dec. 6 letter asks that any pay freeze be limited to fiscal 2011 and that any pay adjustments beyond that be left to the next Congress "where federal pay can be considered in the context of a more comprehensive approach to deficit reduction."

The Office of Management and Budget has submitted bill text to House Appropriations to implement the pay freeze. It is to be included in a continuing resolution to fund the government through fiscal 2011, a bill House Democrats may move as soon as Wednesday.

A new letter from the Tea Party Express endorses Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) to be the next chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, and reveals that the movement is split on the race.

The Tea Party Patriots have been pushing Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) for the spot, which is also being sought by Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.)

In a letter released by Lewis's office Monday, Sal Russo, co-founder of the rival Tea Party Express, urges House Speaker-designate John Boehner (R-Ohio) to pick Lewis.

A day before the House Republican Steering Committee is set to vote on who will be the next chairman of the House Appropriations committee, House Speaker-designate John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Monday announced he is supporting deficit hawk Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) to join the panel.

“I support Congressman Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) in his effort to be appointed to serve on the Appropriations Committee, and I join with incoming Majority Leader Cantor in expressing hope that other reform-minded Members of Congress will follow Jeff’s example in seeking appointment to the committee,” Boehner said in a statement.

The move by Boehner could be taken as a sign that House leadership on Tuesday will back one of the more established candidates for chairmen — Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) or Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) — rather than the more outside candidate Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), who is favored by Tea Party supporters. While all three have sought earmarks in the past, Kingston has sought the smallest amount of earmarked spending. Putting Flake on the panel could be a balancing move to having Lewis or Rogers as chairman.

The Lewis campaign for the gavel got another boost late Friday when the Justice Department revealed it was no longer investigating Lewis for allegedly using his past position as Appropriations chairman to secure funding for his friend, former congressman Bill Lowery. 

“The DOJ response confirms what I’ve known from day one — that the facts and the truth of this matter will ultimately prevail. I look forward continuing to focus all my efforts on cutting government spending and getting our nation onto a responsible and sustainable fiscal path,” Lewis said in a statement.

The news outraged the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

"Yet again, the Department of Justice has chickened out, and allowed a corrupt politician to get away with deplorable conduct. Rep. Lewis blatantly sold his office and used his powerful perch on the Appropriations Committee to steer millions in earmarks to some of his biggest campaign donors,” Executive Director Melanie Sloan said in a statement.