http://thehill.com/homenews/house/259211-conservatives-seek-power-shift-from-gop-leaders By Scott Wong - 11/04/15 08:44 PM EST
Conservative House lawmakers are pitching a major overhaul of the influential Steering Committee, including the removal of six powerful committee chairmen from the Speaker-controlled panel in a bid to spread out the power.
Under the plan, four lower-ranking members of leadership also would get axed from the Steering panel.
The roughly 30-member panel is significant because it decides each Congress which lawmakers serve as committee chairmen and who serves on what committees.
The Steering panel voted Wednesday to award the coveted Ways and Means Committee gavel to Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) over his rival, Rep. Pat Tiberi (R-Ohio). Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) resigned as chairman after he was elected Speaker last week.
House Republicans will hold a special meeting at 9 a.m. Thursday to discuss several proposals to revamp the Steering Committee as part of a broader discussion on rule changes and the GOP’s strategy in the upcoming fight over an omnibus spending bill.
Ryan has been under growing pressure from rank-and-file members to decentralize power and make the decision-making process more inclusive. The new Speaker has signaled he’s open to overhauling the Steering group, something he said he wants done by Thanksgiving.
“This was about to blow up if we didn’t start having a conversation about changes to the process, changes to the rules,” said a GOP leadership aide.
The proposal, obtained by The Hill, is being floated by several members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, including Reps. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.), Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.), Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), Raúl Labrador (R-Idaho) and Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).
It also has support from members outside the group.
Among the highlights:
• The Speaker currently gets five votes on the Steering panel, and the majority leader, currently Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), gets two. Under the proposal, all GOP leaders would receive one vote.
• The proposal would kick six “A” committee chairmen off the panel: Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.); Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price (R-Ga.); Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.); Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas); Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas); and Brady, the new Ways and Means Committee chairman.
• Four lower-level members of the GOP leadership team would be removed as well: Chief Deputy Whip Patrick McHenry (N.C.), Conference Vice Chairwoman Lynn Jenkins (Kan.), Conference Secretary Virginia Foxx (N.C.) and former National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Cole (Okla.).
• The conservatives’ plan would expand to 20 the number of Steering members representing 20 geographic regions in the country; currently there are 13 regional representatives.
One GOP lawmaker involved in the effort to reform the Steering panel called the conservatives’ blueprint a “bad idea.” This lawmaker backs a compromise that would preserve existing members while adding more regional representatives.
“I believe we should open up and expand the number without kicking anyone off,” the GOP lawmaker said. Many conservatives “are willing to go with an approach that doesn’t pull chairmen off and instead opens it up by adding folks.”
Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.), who’s been involved in some of the deliberations, said he won’t insist on removing members from the panel. But he said the current composition is not fair to less populous states, like Arizona, which is represented on the panel by a Californian.
“We’re just trying to get some balance,” Schweikert said. “In Arizona, we’re in with California, so we never get a vote.”
Then there’s the dispute over whether any internal GOP rules should be changed in the middle of the two-year congressional session. Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) said he’s open to expanding the Steering Committee but wants to do it after the November 2016 elections.
“We came in under these rules, we live under these rules,” Walberg told The Hill.
Ethics Committee Chairman Charlie Dent (Pa.), who also leads the Tuesday Group of centrists Republicans, agreed.
“I’ll give any proposed rules changes fair consideration, but I’m certainly opposed to making substantive changes to the rules in the middle of the session,” Dent told The Hill.
