South Texas lawmakers get key Congressional panel positions

[Dixie]

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/ ... 95bc1.html

South Texas lawmakers get key Congressional panel positions

Web Posted: 01/30/2007 05:02 PM CST

Gary Martin
Express-News Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — South Texas has increased its clout in the Democratic controlled Congress with lawmakers appointed to key positions on panels that oversee the border, immigration, military spending and education.

The most recent appointment came Tuesday, when Rep. Charlie Gonzalez, D-San Antonio, was named chairman of the House Small Business subcommittee for health care and trade.

Gonzalez said he was "thrilled’’ with the appointment. He said he would use his leadership on the panel to help small businesses.

"When it comes to trade, small business is probably impacted more so, by policies adopted by the United States,’’ Gonzalez said.

In addition, Gonzalez said small businesses were due regulatory relief.

"We need to bring affordable health coverage to small business and their employees," Gonzalez said.

South Texas now has four subcommittee chairmen, the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, and a member of the powerful Appropriations panel.

Earlier this month, Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, was appointed chairman of the Homeland Security subcommittee on emergency communications and preparedness.

Cuellar's appointment was surprising, in that he lacks seniority.

He begins his second term in Congress, but rose to head the panel because more senior members already held leadership posts.

“If you think about the border and South Texas area, you really have clout,” Cuellar said of the delegation's rising stature.

Cuellar said the chairmanships “allow us to produce more for South Texas, at the same time, we are able to mold policy more.”

Other South Texas lawmakers who hold positions on key panels include Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi, chairman of the House Armed Services subcommittee on readiness, and Rep. Ruben Hinojosa, D-Mercedes, chairman of the Education subcommittee on higher education and life-long learning.

That subcommittee will oversee the reauthorization of the Workforce Reinvestment Act, which funds job training programs and adult education programs like English as a second language.

On the other side of the aisle, Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, serves as the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, which oversees immigration reform, constitutional law and civil liberties.

The only South Texas lawmaker not a committee or subcommittee chairman is Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, D-San Antonio, who was elected to Congress after a two-year absence.

But Rodriguez serves on the House Appropriations Committee, the powerful panel that writes all spending legislation and controls billions in federal project funding.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, is the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on immigration, where he is preparing to re-introduce his reform bill.

[Dixie]

Kay! Fund the Fence!

Dixie

[JadedBaztard]

How many anchor babies are represented here? How many of these office holders ultimately got where they are because at some point in their lineage SOMEONE came here as an illegal??? How long until EVERYONE in american government is of hispanic descent? IMHO The anchor babies will elect them. Not because they have great ideas and want what is best for THE UNITED STATES, but because he/she "is one of us" (of hispanic origin).