Rep. Joe Barton, the ranking Republican member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, said on Thursday that if he is chosen as chairman, he will push to include incoming freshmen on the committee.
“The Energy and Commerce Committee will be the front lines in the battle to repeal ObamaCare, and stop job-killing environmental regulations and provide an environment in which businesses, not government, create jobs,” Barton said in a statement on Thursday morning. “The new members – and the people they represent – deserve a seat at the table.”
New members are not typically invited to serve on powerful committees such as Energy and Commerce until they have served at least one term. But Barton argues, “We allowed freshmen to serve on Energy and Commerce after Republicans gained the majority in 1995,” and says that he would speak to the Republican leadership about making an exception again.
Barton is fighting for another exception to be allowed to serve as chairman in the first place. Republican House conference rules would require Barton to get a waiver to serve as chair, as he already served two terms as ranking member and one as chair. In his defense, Barton has argued that it has happened before, and that moreover, being ranking member is not at all the same as being committee chair.
“Term limits are good,” Barton told The Daily Caller, “but the reason you have term limits is to limit power. And you don’t have power unless you’re in the majority.”