Former Bush adviser joining Ways and Means Committee in key staff role

A former adviser in both Bush administrations will become the new staff director for Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee, the panel Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) announced Monday.

Gary Andres will start in the new role in Tuesday and will be responsible for overseeing the powerful committee’s GOP professional staff. The Ways and Means Committee has jurisdiction over areas such as taxes, trade, health care and entitlement programs.

{mosads}Andres’s hiring comes as Republicans on the Ways and Means Committee want to pursue policies that build on the tax law President Trump signed in December. The House last week passed several IRS reform bills authored by committee members, and the panel has hearings planned this week on the jobs gap, the opioid crisis and innovations in health care.

“I am thrilled to announce Gary Andres as the new staff director of the Committee,” Brady said in a statement. “Gary is a seasoned public policy expert with decades of experience at the White House, on Capitol Hill, and in the private sector. His wisdom and leadership will be critical as we work to build off this newfound economic momentum and help American families thrive.”

Andres served as a legislative affairs aide to President George H. W. Bush from 1989 to 1992 and was a member of President George W. Bush’s Cabinet confirmation team in 2001.

Andres also has Capitol Hill experience, having been staff director for the House Energy and Commerce Committee from January 2011 to February 2017. The Energy and Commerce and the Ways and Means committees often work closely together on health-care issues.

For the past year, Andres has worked as senior executive vice president of public affairs at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization — a trade organization representing biotechnology companies, academic institutions and state biotechnology centers.

As majority staff director for the Ways and Means Committee, Andres will succeed David Stewart, who left Capitol Hill to work at the law and lobbying firm Squire Patton Boggs.