The New Ranking Members
The House GOP Steering Committee today selected the ranking members for the various committees (Because Democrats are going to be in the majority next year, they will receive the committee chairmanships, but the GOP selects the highest "ranking member" for each committee because of their upcoming minority status).
The biggest winner was Congressman Paul Ryan, who beat Ander Crenshaw to become the ranking member of the Budget Committee. Ryan is a diehard fiscal conservative and will make a huge and positive impact as the leading Republican on that committee.
According to Roll Call ($), here are the other winners:
Rep. Spencer Bachus (Ala.) bested Rep. Richard Baker (La.) for the Financial Services ranking membership...
Rep. John Mica (Fla.) will be the ranking member on Transportation and Infrastructure, beating out Rep. Tom Petri (Wis.). The current Transportation and Infrastructure chairman, Rep. Don Young (Alaska), was named ranking member of the Resources Committee, a panel he previously has chaired.
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Fla.) took the top GOP post on the International Relations Committee, defeating Reps. Ed Royce (Calif.), Chris Smith (N.J.) and Dan Burton (Ind.). Rep. Ralph Hall (Texas) will be ranking member of the Science Committee after beating out Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (Wis.), the current Judiciary chairman and former Science chairman. Rep. Steve Chabot (Ohio) will be the lead Republican on the Small Business Committee.
