Shuster to Hand Over Gavel But Keep Influence
Rep. Bud Shuster (R-Pa.), facing the end of his tenure as chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, appears poised to retain a powerful position in transportation policy on Capitol Hill.
Shuster will be forced to give up the chair of the committee, the largest of all congressional panels, because of a 1995 Republican edict that limits chairmen to a six-year term. But Congress watchers are predicting that he will surface in an influential transportation post, even if Republicans don’t retain control of the House.
He dismissed the ethics panel action in a written response as “overkill,” and maintained that he “complied with the law and with his understanding of what was right.”
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 |  TT file photo |
| Rep. Bud Shuster |
Speculation that Shuster will retain some level of transportation oversight even after being cited for ethics abuses is testament to his influence. Shuster was rebuked by the House Ethics Committee Oct. 5 for “serious official misconduct” but was spared harsher penalties for accepting improper gifts, favoring a lobbyist and misusing congressional staff for politics.
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