New House E&C Republicans Named

House Energy & Commerce Commitee Chairman Fred Upton announced the new members of the House Energy & Commerce Committee Friday (Dec. 10).

They are, in alphabetical order, Charlie Bass (NH), Brian Bilbray (CA), Bill Cassidy (LA), Cory Gardner (CO), Morgan Griffith (VA), Brett Guthrie (KY), Gregg Harper (MS), Adam Kinzinger (IL), David McKinley (WV), Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA), Pete Olson (TX), Mike Pompeo (KS), and last, but definitely not least, Greg Walden (OR).

Walden, a former broadcaster and one of the industry's strongest champions on the House Energy & Commerce Committee, is a new, "old" member. He took a leave of absence from the committee to push for House reforms as leader of the GOP Congressional Transparency Initiative. He was also chairman of the transition team for new Republicans elected in the midterm.

The talk in Washington communications policy circles last week was that Walden is a leading candidate to head the Communications Subcommittee. Upton plans to pick subcommittee chairmen next week.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.