Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, one of the most conservative members of the U.S. Senate, is planning to run for a top leadership post.
The Washington Examiner has learned that Lee is aiming to serve as the chair of the Senate Republican Policy Committee, which is the fourth-highest ranking position in the Senate, charged with helping craft the party’s policy agenda. It is a position that has been held by Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming since 2012.
Lee will be discussing the reasons behind his decision in an exclusive interview with the Examiner on Tuesday.
A constitutional lawyer, Lee rocked the political establishment in 2010 when he knocked off sitting three-term U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett at Utah’s Republican Convention, representing an early victory for the Tea Party movement.
Since joining the Senate, Lee has had a reputation as one of the most stalwart conservatives. Lee was a leading proponent of the 2013 push to defund Obamacare and is an ally of Sen. Ted Cruz, who he teamed up with in several clashes with leadership — and he has endorsed Cruz for president.
But Lee has also done more to straddle the line in working with leadership. Last year, Lee took on a leadership role when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., tapped him as one of his counselors.
Lee has emerged as one the leading advocates in the Senate for the idea that conservatives need to not only to be vocal in opposition, but also in pushing policy solutions. The new role, should he be elected, would put him in a stronger position to steer policy, especially if Republicans hang on to the Senate this November.
Over the past several years, Lee has put together what he has called a conservative reform agenda, which includes a series of proposals on issues such as taxes, work-life balance, higher education, welfare reform, and crony capitalism. Lee also has shown a bit of a libertarian streak, having partnered with Democrats on legislation aimed at reducing mandatory minimums on gun and drug sentences.
His proposals are part of a broader movement of reform conservatism. The idea is, essentially, recognition that the Republican policy agenda hasn’t progressed much beyond the one that Ronald Reagan offered when running for president in 1980, even as the problems facing the nation have changed.
Thus, many in the conservative policy community have argued that it’s important for conservatives to take the underlying philosophy of limited government and apply it to the current struggles of the middle class. Lee has been one of the most prominent elected officials to embrace this approach and he’d be running for leadership at a time when House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., is trying to unite the House around a positive agenda of conservative policy reforms.
