Rep. Kevin Brady Wins Ways and Means Chairmanship
The House GOP steering committee on Nov. 4 announced its successor to Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) at the helm of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee: Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas).
The panel’s chairmanship opened up after the chamber picked Ryan to take over as speaker last week.
“I’m honored to lead this talented committee because House Republicans and Speaker Paul Ryan are advancing a pro-growth agenda to get this country back on track. This includes taking real steps toward fixing this broken tax code, reforming welfare, saving Social Security and Medicare for the long-term and enlarging America’s economic freedom to trade,” Brady, who beat back a challenge by Rep. Pat Tiberi (R-Ohio) for the panel’s top spot, said in a statement.
The Ways and Means panel has jurisdiction over the road-building Highway Trust Fund account, which Congress has repeatedly kept afloat through short-term funding patches. Brady did not make clear how he would address his colleagues’ call for adopting a long-term funding structure for the trust fund.
During the House’s ongoing consideration of a multiyear highway reauthorizing bill, Republican leaders did not allow debate on a proposal by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) aimed at raising fuel taxes as a way to back the fund. Like Brady, Blumenauer is a member of the Ways and Means panel.
“I’m deeply disappointed that we are considering what alleges to be a six-year authorization without a real conversation about paying for it. This is a missed opportunity to provide certainty for the hundreds of thousands of jobs at stake and give states and local governments the federal partnership they need and deserve,” Blumenauer said earlier in the day.
