Huelskamp Writes Boehner—I Want My Committees Back December 8, 2012

Kansas-1 Congressman Tim Huelskamp has sent a second letter to House Speaker John Boehner about being kicked off the house Budget and Agriculture Committee.
Huelskamp was booted from those two important panels earlier this week. He said he has not been told why by the GOP House Leadership, but believes he’s the victim of a political pay back for not voting with leadership often enough.
“It is simply wrong to remove a Member of Congress from a Committee, because he votes his conscience and votes in the interests of his district” Huelskamp said Friday.
In his letter to Speaker John Boehner, Huelskamp wrote, “ I respectfully renew my request to be appointed to a seat on each when the Steering Committee reconvenes,”.
That could be as early as next week when all of the House Republican Committee assignments are expected to be released
“The Agriculture and Budget Committees fall directly within my areas of expertise.” He added.
Huelskamp noted he was a farmer and had worked on government budgets in the past.
The tone of the letter is much more businesslike that Huelskamp’s earlier remarks about the demotion.
He claimed he and three other Republicans were removed from their committees for not being loyal enough to the Republican House Leaders.
Wednesday he called his demotion a display of “raw political power”.
Huelskamp says he’s asked the House Leadership to explain why he was dumped, a specific list of which votes he cast that made the leaders unhappy.
On Wednesday Huelskamp seems to dismiss the importance of his House Committee work.
He told reporters the House Budget Committee had not met for months.
“We haven’t had a Budget hearing or meeting since the spring”, he said.
Huelskamp also discounted the work of the Agriculture Committee.
He said Wednesday the farm panel never worked the current Farm Bill under consideration very much.
“On the farm Bill sub-committee, we never really worked the Farm Bill. It was presented to us by the Chairman, Frank Lucan, ‘here’s the bill’” Huelskamp said.
Huelkamp first claimed his removal from the Ag Committee means for the first time since Kansas entered the Union, no member from the state’s delegation was on the Agriculture Committee. He now says it is more in the range of 50 years.
Agri-business is the dominant industry in Huelskamp’s huge “Big First’ Congressional District that covers the western half of the state.