Two high-ranking House Republicans announced on Friday that they will be stepping down from their positions as committee chairs, setting off a leadership scramble to fill the powerful vacancies.
Just hours after the passage of the final fiscal 2024 spending bill, Appropriations Committee Chairwoman and retiring Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX) wrote a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) asking the conference to select a new chairperson “as soon as possible.” Another member who planned to retire at the end of this Congress, Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), announced he would be leaving the chamber and his position as chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party early in April.
The Granger and Gallagher shake-ups come after the previous retirement announcements from Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), who lead the prestigious House Energy and Commerce Committee and Financial Services Committee, respectively, and plan to finish their terms.
McMorris Rodgers could have continued for another two years as the committee’s top Republican. Granger and McMorris Rodgers were trailblazers in their committees, with Granger being the first Republican woman to lead the appropriations committee and McMorris Rodgers the first female member of Congress to chair the energy committee.
The departure of these leaders set off a race for succession. In Granger’s case, Reps. Tom Cole (R-OK) and Robert Aderholt (R-AL) are seen as the likely members to replace the Texas Republican on the Appropriations Committee. Despite stepping down from leadership, Granger will continue in Congress until the end of her term.
Cole, who chairs the powerful Rules Committee, said in a release on Friday that he would be seeking the position as the next chairman of the Appropriations Committee. Should he win the spot, that would likely spark another leadership race for a new Rules Committee chairman.
“It is safe to say — I know the Appropriations Committee very well,” Cole said in touting his role on the committee since 2009. “I have served on the Committee for the majority of my career, in a variety of different positions, and I firmly believe that those experiences will aid me going forward to do a respectable job as Chairman.”
“At the end of the day, I’m a budget hawk,” Cole added, promising as chairman that he will ensure “we are not wasting and abusing.”
Cole could possibly face a challenge for the chairmanship from Aderholt, who is a senior Republican on the Appropriations Committee. Despite being involved heavily in negotiations over the final appropriations bills that came to the floor on Friday, Aderholt had voted with 111 other Republicans against the legislation.
“I was sad to hear that Congresswoman Granger has decided to step down as Appropriations Chair,” Aderholt said in a statement. “Kay and I were elected the same year, and so I feel like she and I have been on this journey in Congress together.”
A spokesperson for Aderholt declined to comment to the Washington Examiner on whether Aderholt would put his name forward for the chair position, but the congressman said in his statement that he would “look forward to working with her throughout the remainder of this Congress.”
Who will be Gallagher’s successor, on the other hand, remains to be seen. Given the committee was formed in January 2023 and there is not a senior Republican member, there are a handful of GOP lawmakers who could seek the role. Members that may be considered include Reps. Robert Wittman (R-VA), Andy Barr (R-KY), Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO), and Dan Newhouse (R-WA).
However, any Republican who takes the helm may not reign for long. Because it is not a permanent committee, if Democrats take the House majority in November, they could decide to dissolve the committee. For now, it is likely Johnson will keep the committee operational and find a new chair.
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Republicans also praised Gallagher for his work in Congress and on the select committee.
“Congressman Gallagher has been an invaluable asset to our national security,” House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Mike Turner (R-OH) said in a statement.
