Renovating the House

AFTER the Republican takeover of the House, 14-term Indiana Representative John Myers found himself within reach of one of Congress’s sweetest plums: chairmanship of the House Appropriations Committee. With its opportunities for loose spending and self-aggrandizement, Appropriations is perhaps the most congressional of all congressional committees. The only Republican with more seniority, Joseph McDade (Pa.), is under indictment, and no one could question Myers’s inside-Washington skills. Last year, when the Penny-Kasich spending cuts threatened to knock $90 billion out of the federal budget, Myers sent a letter to colleagues warning of local projects that might get axed if Penny-Kasich were to pass. Thanks to such pressure tactics, the deficit-reduction measure failed by 6 votes.

But this is just the sort of effectiveness the 104th Congress can do without. The Penny-Kasich letter helped prompt soon-to-be-Speaker Newt Gingrich to pass over Myers for Appropriations. The plum is landing in the hands of the fifth most senior Republican on the committee, Representative Bob Livingston (La.), a hard-nosed conservative who promises to make Appropriations decidedly less juicy. “Appropriations was always a great committee because you could increase funding for this or that,” says Livingston. “Now we’re going to be cutting programs.” Myers, meanwhile, could take some consolation from the fact that he was in line for the chairmanship of the Post Office and Civil Service Committee—except that it’s now slated for elimination.

About the Author

Rich Lowry

Rich Lowry is the editor in chief of National Review.

Featured Tags

Manage following

Newt Gingrich

Congress

House of Representatives

AFTER the Republican takeover of the House, 14-term Indiana Representative John Myers found himself within reach of one of Congress’s sweetest plums: chairmanship of the House Appropriations Committee. With its opportunities for loose spending and self-aggrandizement, Appropriations is perhaps the most congressional of all congressional committees. The only Republican with more seniority, Joseph McDade (Pa.), is under indictment, and no one could question Myers’s inside-Washington skills. Last year, when the Penny-Kasich spending cuts threatened to knock $90 billion out of the federal budget, Myers sent a letter to colleagues warning of local projects that might get axed if Penny-Kasich were to pass. Thanks to such pressure tactics, the deficit-reduction measure failed by 6 votes.

But this is just the sort of effectiveness the 104th Congress can do without. The Penny-Kasich letter helped prompt soon-to-be-Speaker Newt Gingrich to pass over Myers for Appropriations. The plum is landing in the hands of the fifth most senior Republican on the committee, Representative Bob Livingston (La.), a hard-nosed conservative who promises to make Appropriations decidedly less juicy. “Appropriations was always a great committee because you could increase funding for this or that,” says Livingston. “Now we’re going to be cutting programs.” Myers, meanwhile, could take some consolation from the fact that he was in line for the chairmanship of the Post Office and Civil Service Committee—except that it’s now slated for elimination.