Rep. Jason Chaffetz beat three fellow Republicans Tuesday in a competitive race to become the new House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman when the new Congress begins in early January.
The House Republican Steering Committee, a group of 30 that includes leadership and rank-and-file members, voted for the Utah lawmaker over Ohio Reps. Jim Jordan and Michael Turner and Rep. John Mica of Florida.
Chaffetz, 47, is set to succeed Rep. Darrell Issa of California, who is stepping down because of Republicans’ self-imposed term limits.
The full House Republican Conference must ratify the steering committee’s decision, but the vote is expected to be only a formality.
Few committees in recent years have generated more headlines — from high-profile investigations into the Benghazi attacks to the IRS scandal and the Ebola virus — so the panel’s chairmanship is viewed as one of the most plum gavels in Congress.
Issa, who publicly didn’t endorse a successor, called Chaffetz “a valued colleague and demonstrated leader who will continue the work of the Oversight committee in the next Congress.”
The committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, who often clashed with Issa during the California Republican’s four years heading the panel, also congratulated Chaffetz.
“I am hopeful that Rep. Chaffetz will work closely with Democrats to develop our committee’s agenda for the next Congress, consult closely on our rules and protocols, and address the core issues that go to the center of people’s daily lives,” Cummings said.
“I am encouraged that Rep. Chaffetz has shown a sincere interest in working together and focusing on reform, and I hope this bipartisanship continues.”
Chaffetz has pledged to run the committee in a somewhat fresher approach than the often-controversial and confrontational Issa.
The Utahan, who was elected to the House in 2009 and is a frequent guest on TV news channels, also was considered a low-risk choice who would be a good public ambassador.
Cummings and Chaffetz have visited each other’s districts in recent months in an effort to lay a foundation for bipartisanship for the panel in the next Congress.
Chaffetz told the Washington Examiner last week that the Oversight committee under his watch “potentially” could investigate remarks made by Jonathan Gruber, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who was an architect of Obama’s healthcare law. A maelstrom erupted last week when tapes surfaced of him telling an audience last year that a lack of transparency, aided by “the stupidity of the American voter,” was largely to explain for Obamacare’s 2010 passage.
Chaffetz also said he has considered his time serving on the panel among his most important work in Congress.
