Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) has announced the picks of House Republican leaders for the chairmanship of 19 of 21 House committees, and it’s not just the fact that every last one of them is a white male that’s worth noting, although that obvious fact is already raising eyebrows even within his own party. Many of these men also hold extremist positions or have brought in millions in campaign money from the industries they’re now being tasked to control.
For starters, Rep. Ed Royce (R-California) will be heading up the Foreign Affairs Committee. Last year Royce spoke at an anti-Muslim rally in Santa Ana and described multiculturalism as something that “has paralyzed too many of our citizens to make the critical judgment we need to make to prosper as a society.”
Taking over the Committee on Science, Space and Technology is Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), an outspoken global warming skeptic who consistently demonstrates no respect for science.
Chairing the Committee on Homeland Security will be Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas). McCaul’s biggest contribution to freedom so far: attempting to eliminate the basic right of deceased soldiers’ families to choose which prayers, if any, were to be read at a soldier’s funeral and demanding the imposition of Christian ceremonies at the military funerals of all service members, without regard to that service member’s religious beliefs and with or without the consent of their family.
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) – is it just me, or is this an awful lot of Texans? - will be taking control of the Financial Services Committee. Some of Hensarling’s biggest campaign donations just happen to have come from the financial services industry. Just what this country needs: another powerful politician indebted to big banks.
Returning to his post as chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee is Rep. Fred Upton (R-Michigan), whose campaign was bankrolled by oil and gas corporations.
Also returning: Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Washington), chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, another politician heavily financed by the oil, gas and mining industry.
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) was granted a waiver to continue as chairman of the Budget Committee, even though Ryan has reached the six-year term House Republican-imposed limit on committee chairmen and ranking members.
Speaker Boehner praised the committee picks.
“Our team will continue focusing on reforms that will grow our economy and create new jobs, and on holding the Obama administration accountable through aggressive oversight of the executive branch,” Boehner said in a statement. “The House of Representatives is an outpost in Democratic-controlled Washington for the priorities of the American people, and I have every confidence that the chairmen selected today are up to the task of translating those priorities into solutions Americans are counting on to get our economy moving again.”
Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Americans just make it perfectly clear that they are looking for solutions not proposed by exclusionary extremists beholden to banks and corporations?