Republican Sean Duffy of Ashland says he’s not interested in serving on the House Appropriations Committee, the panel which controls much of the discretionary spending on Capitol Hill. Duffy and other Republicans ran for Congress on a promise to cut that spending – and he says he wants “to go in a different direction.”
Duffy replaces retiring Democrat Dave Obey, who spent many years on the appropriations panel along with his predecessor, Republican Mel Laird. Obey chaired the appropriations panel the last two years – and Duffy criticized him heavily for being one of the main authors of the federal economic stimulus package.
Duffy says he has received encouragement to be on the appropriations panel, but has not been pressured to do it. He’s not saying which House committees he’d like to serve on.
WSAU