Now that House Republicans have elected Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) as speaker, members of the House Freedom Caucus are preparing to push changes to the Republican steering committee.
Members of the conservative caucus that pushed to oust Boehner have started circulating a plan to reduce the power of the GOP leadership team on the panel that decides committee assignments, The Hill reported on Wednesday.
Currently, the speaker has five votes on the Steering Committee and the majority leader has two. The Freedom Caucus would keep the representatives in six top leadership spots on the committee, but give those individuals the same voting power as the rest of the Steering Committee’s members.
The House Freedom Caucus also wants to remove the committee chairs currently sitting on the committee, and instead select 20 additional members for the committee representing different geographical regions, according to The Hill.
The plan would reduce the speaker’s power on the committee and involve more members and younger congressmen in the committee’s deliberations. This comes after many members expressed a need for House leadership include more members in its decisions.
Ryan has already expressed willingness to make changes to the Steering Committee. He told members of his caucus that he will try to restructure the committee before Thanksgiving, according to Politico.
Read the entire House Freedom Caucus proposal at The Hill.
