EXCLUSIVE — Rules Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) dismissed calls from his colleague, Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL), to delay the selection of a new Appropriations Committee chair, saying it is not a “wise decision.”
“I think we need to move now,” Cole said in an interview with the Washington Examiner. “You need to remove the uncertainty.”
Current Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Kay Granger (R-TX) announced her decision to step down from her position hours after the House passed the final set of appropriations bills for fiscal year 2024. Later that day, Cole became the first Republican to put his name forward to succeed Granger as chairman.
Though Aderholt has not entered the Appropriations race, he called for a delay in the selection process in a “Dear Colleague” letter on Wednesday. The Alabama Republican, who is the senior GOP member on the committee, said the current spending process is “fundamentally flawed” and that Republicans need to find ways to fix the system before moving forward.
“Instead of hastily selecting a new Appropriations Chair, I believe that now is the time to focus on correcting the process and developing our theory of government on how we will manage our responsibilities,” Aderholt wrote in the letter obtained by the Washington Examiner. “Our Conference must work together to define a clear direction forward before choosing a Chairman to lead us there.”
Cole said he had not seen the letter at the time of the interview, but believes that the need to delay seemed unnecessary.
“Why would you delay? It’s not like we’re unknown figures, assuming Robert’s running,” Cole said. “We both know one another, like one another, respect one another. We’ve competed for this job before.”
“I think the sooner we make the decision, the better,” Cole said. “It’s not like there’s going to be some mystery candidate that emerged. Whoever runs gotta be a pretty senior figure on the Appropriations Committee.”
“I don’t know why it would take longer to make the decision, and I don’t see the advantage for either the conference or Congress to delay,” the senior GOP lawmaker added.
The Steering Committee is scheduled to meet on Tuesday to select a new Appropriations chair, with Cole expecting the conference to ratify the new chair’s selection on Wednesday if that timeline sticks.
Cole said the appropriations committee knew that Granger was retiring after the 2024 term, so once she made it apparent that she would not seek to hold office anymore, he began “actively pursuing this job.” He said he is “confident” that he has the votes to become the new Appropriations Committee chair but others are “certainly free to run, as well.”
“Last time we had one of these, we had four different candidates, I think all of them were qualified; Kay Granger won,” Cole said. “This time could easily be multiple candidates again, but I like where I’m positioned in terms of winning, but again, no problem if somebody else wants to get in the race.”
“I’ve chaired the largest domestic spending committee. I’m very senior on Defense Committee, I’ve chaired two others,” Cole added. “They know who I am, and they know I operate. And we’ll make our case and hope for the best.”
As lawmakers prepare to head back to Capitol Hill next week after a two-week recess, they are already looking ahead to the next set of appropriations bills for fiscal 2025. Passing the 12 appropriations bills for 2024 proved to be a difficult task, resulting in four continuing resolutions and months of GOP infighting over spending levels and border security. Eyes will be on House Republicans to see how far they can get into the 2025 appropriations process before the 2024 election, where they will defend a slim majority.
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Unlike Aderholt, who has called for serious reforms to the appropriations process, Cole said he has “enormous respect” for Granger and her work to pass the 2024 appropriations bills, and he wouldn’t “second guess” her approach to the job. However, he did acknowledge that a priority for him will be getting the bills through the Appropriations Committee as swiftly as possible.
“We need to get them through in a timely enough fashion that it’s then up to the majority leader and the rest of leadership: whatever you want to put on the floor and when do you want to put it on the floor,” Cole said. “That’s not our call, but they have to have the product ready to put on the floor. That’s our responsibility. That’s what we’ll do.”