Mediocre House Committee Chairmen Selected

By Daniel Horowitz | 7:42 AM on November 28, 2012

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Republicans in Washington are looking for ways to change the face of the party following their defeat in the presidential election. However, one thing that will not change is the face of GOP leaders in the House.

Last week, John Boehner stacked the Steering Committee, which is responsible for selecting committee assignments, with like-minded stooges. He also gave himself 5 votes. Not surprisingly, there aren’t too many changes from the array of weak committee chairmen. Dave Camp is still at Ways and Means; Fred Upton is still at Energy & Commerce; Hal Rogers is still chairing Appropriations. The only positive change for conservatives is that Jeb Hensarling will be replacing Spencer Bauchus at Financial Services.

Here are the 2011 ratings for the proposed roster of chairmen. None of the important economic policy committees are chaired by conservatives. Republicans might wish to change the party platform, but it is the face of leadership that needs to change:

Committee	Chairman	Heritage Action	Club for Growth	Madison Performance Index
Agriculture	Frank Lucas	55	48	-38.5
Appropriations	Hal Rogers	56	48	-38
Armed Services	Buck McKeon	56	50	-26.5
Budget	Paul Ryan	78	73	2
Education	John Kline	67	70	-8
Energy & Commerce	Fred Upton	52	52	-18.5
Ethics	TBA
Financial Services	Jeb Hensarling	84	87	-4.5
Foreign Affairs	Ed Royce	91	91	8.5
Homeland Security	Mike Mcaul	71	72	-14
House Administration	TBA
Intelligence	Mike Rogers (MI)	60	66	-10.5
Judiciary	Bob Goodlatte	69	88	-10
Natural Resources	Doc Hastings	57	52	-35.5
Oversight	Darrell Issa	75	74	-11
Rules	Pete Sessions	74	77	-7
Science, Space, & Tech	Lamar Smith	59	59	-31
Small Business	Sam Graves	63	66	-16.5
Transportation & Infrastructure	Bill Shuster	55	54	-35.5
Veterans’ Affairs	Jeff Miller	91	86	-1.5
Ways and Means	Dave Camp	59	50	-20.5