The House Republican Steering Committee was scheduled Tuesday to consider a new chair for the influential House Appropriations Committee, moving quickly after Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, announced last month that she will step down.
The Steering Committee was scheduled to vote on Granger's replacement Tuesday afternoon and send its recommended candidate to the House GOP conference soon after, The Hill reported.
Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., who heads the subcommittee responsible for crafting funds for housing and transportation programs, is running unopposed for Granger's seat and is being backed by several conservatives.
Cole already has been discussing changes he wants to see in upcoming days, and said Monday that his top priority is to "get the work done and put the leadership in a position to make the decisions they want to make."
However, Cole said Congress is likely to face the need to pass yet another stopgap measure in September when government funding expires, considering the current pace of appropriations work and the election cycle.
"What normally happens in an election year is the winners essentially decide, Do we want to finish our business between now and the end of the calendar, or do we think we have some political advantage by waiting later, and do we want to kick them into early next year?" Cole said.
Cole added that he has never liked that approach.
"It doesn't matter if we win or lose. I've been on both sides of this before, and I will say I think it's almost always a mistake to push them into the next year because you really put the next Congress behind the eight ball," he said.
Cole also said the change in administration "doesn't make that much difference in the writing" of the annual appropriations bill as the final product will "end up being somewhat bipartisan because you got to get to 60 in the Senate."
The House Appropriations Committee held several hearings before Congress left for recess last month in order to prepare for fiscal 2025. While announcing her decision to step down as the committee's chair, Granger noted that November's elections will have an affect on this year's appropriations battles.
"Recognizing that an election year often results in final appropriations bills not getting enacted until well into the next fiscal year, it is important that I do everything in my power to ensure a seamless transition before the fiscal year 25 bill development begins in earnest," said Granger, who is not seeking reelection this year, leaving the seat she's held on the Texas delegation since 1997.
Not everyone on the Steering Committee has embraced the quick appointment of a new Appropriations chief.
Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., who chairs the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees funding for departments of Health and Human Services and Labor, said in a letter to his colleagues that Republicans should agree on a broader spending bill strategy before picking a new chair.