Rep. Jason Smith to chair House Ways and Means Committee

Southeast Missouri congressman Jason Smith was elected as chairman of the prestigious House Ways and Means Committee on Monday, Jan. 9, besting two challengers for the post.

“It is deeply humbling and an honor to be selected by my colleagues,” Smith said in a statement. “With our new House Republican majority, we have made a commitment to the American people to build a stronger economy that gives everyone — not just the wealthy and politically-connected — greater opportunity to build a more prosperous future for themselves and their families. Americans also expect us to hold the Biden Administration accountable for the crises it has caused and to once again exercise Congress’ oversight authority which has been entirely absent under one-party Democratic rule in Washington.”

Smith, who stressed his working-class roots in campaigning for the job in December, defeated two fellow Republicans for the chairmanship: Vern Buchanan of Florida and Adrian Smith of Nebraska.

“Our first step is defunding the $80 billion pay increase Democrats gave the IRS to hire 87,000 new agents to target working families. But we are not stopping there. If confirmed, the new IRS Commissioner should plan to spend a lot of time before our committee answering questions about the leaking of sensitive taxpayer information and (its) history of targeting conservative Americans. We will make it clear to every IRS employee that the Ways and Means Committee welcomes whistleblower efforts to uncover corruptive behavior at that agency,” Smith continued.

Smith was chosen by the House GOP Steering Committee to lead the 45-member Ways and Means panel.

Ways and Means has jurisdiction over all taxation and tariffs and has oversight functions for Social Security, unemployment benefits, Medicare and child support laws.

Until the end of the last Congress, Smith had been ranking member of the House Budget Committee.

McCarthy

In a separate statement, Smith said he was “proud” to support California Republican Kevin McCarthy’s quest to succeed Nancy Pelosi as speaker of the House.

McCarthy was elected Saturday, Jan. 7, after four days of voting and 15 ballots.

Smith, 42, has represented 30 southern and southeastern Missouri counties since 2013 in the state’s 8th House District.