Republican officials this week settled on a slate of new chairs for the House’s standing committees, and in a written statement, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said the selections “represent the very best of our conference.”
HuffPost’s Jennifer Bendery noted that the GOP boast may be open to some debate.
House Republican leaders on Tuesday announced their picks for powerful committee chairs in the new Congress, and most of them have an inherent character flaw: They voted to overturn the 2020 presidential election results after fueling the lie that the election was stolen from Donald Trump. … Of the 17 members tapped for chair posts, 11 voted to reject the results of the 2020 presidential election.
While putting together some related research, I also noticed that 12 of the 17 had signed on to a misguided legal brief that asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the presidential election results.
Let’s consider the full list:
The House Committee on Agriculture will be chaired by Republican Rep. Glenn Thompson of Pennsylvania, who both signed the Supreme Court brief and voted against certifying the 2020 election results.
The House Committee on Appropriations will be chaired by Republican Rep. Kay Granger of Texas, who did not try to overturn the 2020 election results.
The House Armed Services Committee will be chaired by Republican Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama, who both signed the Supreme Court brief and voted against certifying the 2020 election results.
The House Budget Committee will be chaired by Republican Rep. Jodey Arrington of Texas, who both signed the Supreme Court brief and voted against certifying the 2020 election results.
The House Education and Workforce Committee will be chaired by Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, who both signed the Supreme Court brief and voted against certifying the 2020 election results.
The House Committee on Energy and Commerce will be chaired by Republican Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state, who signed the Supreme Court brief.
The House Financial Services Committee will be chaired by Republican Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, who did not try to overturn the 2020 election results.
The House Foreign Affair Committee will be chaired by Republican Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, who did not try to overturn the 2020 election results.
The House Homeland Security Committee will be chaired by Republican Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee, who both signed the Supreme Court brief and voted against certifying the 2020 election results.
The House Judiciary Committee will be chaired by Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, who both signed the Supreme Court brief and voted against certifying the 2020 election results.
The House Natural Resources Committee will be chaired by Republican Rep. Bruce Westerman of Arkansas, who signed the Supreme Court brief.
The House Oversight and Accountability Committee will be chaired by Republican Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, who did not try to overturn the 2020 election results. The House Science, Space, and Technology Committee will be chaired by Republican Rep. Frank Lucas of Oklahoma, who voted against certifying the 2020 election results. The House Small Business Committee will be chaired by Republican Rep. Roger Williams of Texas, who both signed the Supreme Court brief and voted against certifying the 2020 election results. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will be chaired by Republican Rep. Sam Graves of Missouri, who both signed the Supreme Court brief and voted against certifying the 2020 election results. The House Veterans’ Affairs Committee will be chaired by Republican Rep. Mike Bost of Illinois, who both signed the Supreme Court brief and voted against certifying the 2020 election results. The House Ways and Means Committee will be chaired by Republican Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri, who both signed the Supreme Court brief and voted against certifying the 2020 election results. I’m reminded of a recent Washington Post analysis: In the hours after a violent mob stormed the U.S. Capitol, hoping to block Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential win and retain Donald Trump as president, more than 130 Republican members of the House voted to do precisely that. The rioters tried to use intimidation and physical obstruction to achieve that goal. The Republican legislators used votes.
As the Post’s report noted, in the immediate aftermath of the Jan. 6 violence, corporate donations were halted, and there was plenty of speculation about what was to come of the GOP lawmakers who defied their own country’s democracy. Almost exactly two years to the day later, many of those same members now represent a majority of the new Congress’ House committee chairs.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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