Arrington Picked to Chair House Budget Committee

As we mentioned yesterday, Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO) was picked by the House Republican Steering Committee to lead the Ways and Means Committee. That left an opening atop the House Budget Committee, where Smith had been the top Republican. The Steering Committee on Monday picked Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-TX) to take over that panel, picking him over Reps. Buddy Carter (GA) and Lloyd Smucker (PA).

Arrington, 50, said he would be focused on reducing spending and the national debt. “With the national debt surpassing $31 trillion and over 120% of our entire economy, I believe confronting our unsustainable debt is the greatest challenge of the 21st century,” he said in a statement.

Arrington calls for policies to grow the economy, impose work requirements on safety net programs and restructure entitlement programs. Roll Call notes that Arrington “sponsored legislation in the last Congress to limit spending growth to 2 percent a year for the next decade, which he said would save about $500 billion” and that the Texas congressman supports the idea of using the need to raise the federal borrowing limit as leverage to slow the growth of the national debt.