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House Cardinals Named; Young to Keep Defense Panel Chairmanship

C.W. Bill Young will remain chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee overseeing the Pentagon’s budget, while Jack Kingston and Ander Crenshaw move into the two of the thorniest posts on the committee.

Appropriations Chairman Harold Rogers, R-Ky., on Monday announced the lineup of his 12 GOP subcommittee leaders for the 113th Congress. The panel’s subcommittee chairmen were commonly called cardinals, reflecting in large part their former power to dole out favors through earmarks. Now they are tasked with delivering on the House GOP’s mandate to slash spending and, by doing so, rein in the size and sweep of the federal government.

“The 12 members that were chosen to lead our Appropriations Subcommittees will shepherd tax-dollars in a responsible, frugal, and common sense way to help address the nation’s financial challenges,” Rogers said in a statement.

Young, R-Fla., continues in his post as a notable exception to House GOP term limits. Young also had been granted a waiver to serve in the post in the current Congress.

“I appreciate the confidence the Speaker and Chairman Rogers have shown in me to bring before the House good appropriations bills that protect our nation from threats abroad, continue to support our all volunteer force so they can carry out their missions safely and effectively, and to care for our fallen heroes and their families when they return home, many with injuries from which they will never fully recover,” said Young in a statement.

Kingston, R-Ga., will switch over to lead the Labor-HHS-Education panel from his current job as chairman of the Agriculture subcommittee. This panel serves as a key battleground for continuing fights over implementation of the 2010 health care overhaul (PL 111-148, PL 111-152) and for recurring partisan battles over labor policy. This panel has not been able to advance a bill as far as a full committee markup in two years.

Crenshaw, R-Fla., will lead the Financial Services panel, which serves as a forum for battling over the 2010 Dodd-Frank overhaul (PL 111-203). He had previously served as chairman of the Legislative Branch panel.

The Agriculture panel will be led in the 113th Congress by Robert B. Aderholt, R-Ala., who now leads the Homeland Security subcommittee. John Carter of Texas will succeed him as chairman of the Homeland Security subcommittee, and Rodney Alexander, R-La., will succeed Crenshaw as chairman of the Legislative Branch subcommittee.

Along with Young, another six subcommittee leaders will stick with their current assignments: Frank R. Wolf of Virginia at Commerce-Justice-Science; Rodney Frelinghuysen of New Jersey at Energy-Water; Mike Simpson of Idaho at Interior-Environment; John Culberson of Texas at Military Construction-VA; Kay Granger of Texas at State-Foreign Operations; and Tom Latham of Iowa at Transportation- HUD.

Two subcommittee members are leaving Congress at the end of the 112th Congress. JoAnn Emerson of Missouri, chairwoman of the Financial Services panel, is resigning from Congress, and Denny Rehberg of Montana, who had led the Labor-HHS-Education panel, lost his bid for the Senate.

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