Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) was selected this week to Chair the House Ways and Means Committee. This comes after Paul Ryan was recently elected as the new Speaker of the House.
The Ways and Means Committee will be responsible for House consideration of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, which was publicly unveiled on Thursday, in addition to writing tax law and overseeing general trade policy, Social Security reforms, Medicare, and various welfare programs.
Brady, a 10-term member from the Houston, Texas area, has led two of the committee’s key panels – Health and Trade – and is the top House Republican on the Joint Economic Committee.
“I’m honored to lead this talented committee because House Republicans and Speaker Paul Ryan are advancing a pro-growth agenda to get this country back on track. This includes taking real steps toward fixing this broken tax code, reforming welfare, saving Social Security and Medicare for the long term and enlarging America’s economic freedom to trade.” Rep Brady said. “We have a lot of work to do, and it won’t happen overnight for this reason: While many of these solutions originate in the Ways and Means Committee, I intend to seek the ideas and active engagement of our Republican Conference. Big challenges require big effort from all of us.”
Rep. Tom Rice (R-SC) will fill the committee vacancy created by Ryan’s departure.
