Paul Ryan Woos Ex-Boehner Aide Back to Capitol Hill

Ryan and Brendan Buck worked together on the Wisconsin congressman's 2012 vice-presidential run. (Chris Maddaloni/CQ Roll Call Fast File)
Ryan and Brendan Buck worked together on the Wisconsin congressman's 2012 vice-presidential run. (Chris Maddaloni/CQ Roll Call Fast File)
By Emma Dumain
Posted November 24, 2014 at 11:35am

Rep. Paul D. Ryan must have made Brendan Buck a pretty strong case to leave his still-new K Street gig to come back to Capitol Hill.  

The Wisconsin Republican and incoming chairman of the Ways and Means Committee announced Monday that Buck, a former spokesman for Speaker John A. Boehner, will be coming on board as the panel’s communications director.  

Buck left his job as a congressional aide six months ago to be the vice president of communications at America’s Health Insurance Plans,  the health insurance industry’s lobby. When he joins the GOP Ways and Means team at the start of the 114th Congress, he’ll be in a position to help message on Ryan’s ambitious goals, like a major overhaul of the nation’s tax code.  

Ryan is no stranger to working closely with Buck: When he ran for vice-president in 2012, Buck was his press secretary, having taken a leave of absence from Boehner’s staff to pitch in. Buck was also at one point a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, the Republican Study Committee, now-Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., Ryan’s soon-to-be successor at the helm of the Budget Committee.  

On Monday, Ryan also announced that Joyce Meyer, his longtime chief of staff, will be the Ways and Means staff director. Austin Smythe, Ryan’s current staff director on the Budget Committee, will come over to Ways and Means as policy director.