Rep. Steve Womack said to have ‘inside track’ on key gavel

House Republicans next week will pick their new Budget Committee chairman, the third to occupy the post in the past year.

The Republican Steering Committee, a powerful panel of leadership allies led by Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), will meet Tuesday behind closed doors to select someone to succeed Budget Chairwoman Diane Black (R), who is stepping down from the post to focus on her 2018 bid for Tennessee governor.

Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.), a leadership ally who was part of the 2010 class that took back the majority, is the favorite, GOP Steering Committee members and other sources said.

Womack himself is a member of the Steering Committee.

Two other Republicans who were part of the 2010 class — former Republican Study Committee (RSC) Chairman Rob Woodall (R-Ga.) and Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio) — also are vying for the Budget gavel.

“Womack has the inside track,” said a senior GOP aide who is familiar with the Budget panel.

The 32-member Steering Committee, which is made up of the GOP leadership team and regional representatives, will also choose someone to replace Rep. Pat Tiberi (R-Ohio) on the influential Ways and Means Committee. Tiberi is resigning from Congress on Jan. 15 to take a private sector job.

Steering Committee members also said the future of Appropriations Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) could be discussed at the private meeting. Leaders of the conservative Republican Study Committee have been furious at the moderate Appropriations chair for voting against the GOP tax overhaul. RSC Chairman Mark Walker (R-N.C.) has personally urged Ryan to strip Frelinghuysen of his gavel.

But several GOP sources said there probably is not the political appetite on the Steering Committee to move against Frelinghuysen, who is already one of Democrats’ top 2018 targets.

“It might get discussed, but I doubt there’s the will to do that,” one Steering Committee member told The Hill.

The next Budget chairman is expected to play an integral role in shaping the GOP’s 2018 agenda.

Ryan has suggested Republicans could use the budget reconciliation process this year to pass welfare or entitlement reforms. To do that, however, Republicans will need to craft and pass identical budget resolutions in both the House and Senate — a feat many in the party see as difficult to achieve in a tough election year.

A year ago, Womack had vied to become a powerful Appropriations “cardinal,” the chairman of an Appropriations subcommittee, but that job instead went to Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-Kansas), who is very close with GOP leadership.

Now, there is a feeling among Steering Committee members that it’s Womack’s time.

However, sources raised questions about whether Womack a year from now would want to trade up his Budget gavel for another Appropriations subcommittee chairmanship, which controls billions of dollars in spending. Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.), who leads the Appropriations subcommittee on military construction and veterans affairs, is not seeking reelection this year.

That would mean yet more change for the Budget Committee.

In January 2017, Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) relinquished the Budget gavel to become President Trump’s Health and Human Services secretary, though he only lasted about eight months. Black took the reins of the Budget panel, passing the budget that helped smooth the way for the tax overhaul. But she announced she’s handing over the gavel this month as she turns her focus to the Tennessee governor’s race.

If Womack wins the Budget gavel, then steps aside to become an Appropriations cardinal, “that would be the fourth Budget chairman in two years,” the senior GOP aide said.