{"id":239637,"date":"2026-07-09T20:19:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T20:19:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/239637\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T20:19:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T20:19:07","slug":"could-pennsylvania-control-both-top-leadership-spots-on-house-budget-committee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/239637\/","title":{"rendered":"Could Pennsylvania Control Both Top Leadership Spots On House Budget Committee?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Does it take two to make the dream come true?<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania could find itself with two of its congressional members at the top of the food chain on the House Budget Committee.<\/p>\n

As the first panel to examine the President\u2019s annual budget message, the Budget Committee\u2019s chief responsibility<\/a> is to draft a concurrent resolution that reconciles spending details with the overall comprehensive budget package.<\/p>\n

While Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-02) currently is the ranking member of the committee, a battle is brewing over who will be the next top Republican and in the mix is Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-11).<\/p>\n

Smucker and Rep. Blake Moore (R-Utah) are both jockeying to replace Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) after the latter\u2019s decision to retire<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This is not the first time that the Lancaster Countian has put his hat in the ring for the position. In 2022, Smucker ran for the post but Arrington won on a second secret ballot by leadership in the House Republican Steering Committee.<\/p>\n

According to a report in Punchbowl News<\/a>, Smucker has been having conversations with members of the House Republican Steering Committee \u2013 the panel that decides committee leadership races \u2013 and met with House GOP leaders about his bid. Included in that group are a pair of Pennsylvania congressmen \u2013 Reps. Guy Reschenthaler (R-14), Chief Deputy Whip<\/a>, and Mike Kelly (R-16), Chairman of the Ways & Means Subcommittee on Tax<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Smucker and Kelly recently penned a letter to Pennsylvania State Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R-Armstrong\/Jefferson\/Indiana\/Westmoreland) calling on Pennsylvania state lawmakers to use this year\u2019s state budget process to align Pennsylvania\u2019s state tax code with pro-growth, pro-jobs, pro-investment policies included in the Working Families Tax Cuts last year.<\/p>\n

A source familiar with his operation says Smucker has locked up the majority needed to win the race.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am deeply grateful for the strong support and encouragement I am receiving in my conversations with Members of the House Republican Steering Committee,\u201d Smucker told PoliticsPA.<\/p>\n

Smucker is the more senior of the two candidates and presently serves as the panel\u2019s vice chair. Moore is the House GOP Conference vice chair<\/a> and also sits on Steering which is traditionally an advantage in the race for the gavel.<\/p>\n

Fundraising for the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) also plays a key role in contending for a top committee position. Smucker is a top-10 fundraiser, bringing in a haul of more than $2.2 million for the NRCC this cycle, as opposed to around $1 million for Moore.<\/p>\n

But another factor working against Smucker is that since the formal mechanism for Budget Committee began in 1973, no state has had both ranking members.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur nation\u2019s debt is one of the greatest challenges facing our country,\u201d said Smucker. \u201cJust paying the interest on our national debt, now nearly $1 trillion a year, limits our ability to invest in priorities, respond to emergencies, and leave America stronger for future generations. We must address that challenge, and that is why I am seeking the opportunity to lead the House Budget Committee. My efforts in Congress have always sought to bring Members together to advance serious, fiscally responsible legislation. We made historic progress last year during reconciliation, producing over $1 trillion in savings, but there is much more work to do to change America\u2019s fiscal trajectory.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania has not had a chair of the House Budget Committee since the 100th Congress (1987-89) when William H. Gray III held the post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Does it take two to make the dream come true? Pennsylvania could find itself with two of its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239638,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-239637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239637\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}