Trump Ally Smith to Lead House Tax Writers, Adding Populist Tilt

Representative Jason Smith will lead the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, putting a decidedly populist and pro-Donald Trump lawmaker in charge of the chamber’s tax, trade and health agenda.

Smith, who advocates positioning the GOP as the party of the working class, represents a shift in Republican economic strategy away from the pro-free-trade, pro-business alignment it’s espoused for decades.

The new committee chair will also be a key bridge between Speaker Kevin McCarthy and the rebellious right flank of House Republicans, who’ve already demonstrated their determination to exert their leverage in the chamber’s tight margins.

Smith, a Missouri Republican, takes over the panel as the GOP looks to craft its economic agenda before the 2024 presidential election. He will also play a pivotal role in negotiations about raising the federal debt ceiling later this year, which will likely turn into a boisterous — and potentially economically cataclysmic — debate about cutting government spending and benefits programs.

Smith, in a statement following his election, said that he would make a priority of American workers and push to extend the tax cuts in Trump’s 2017 tax-cut overhaul.

“We must also examine whether it is in the best interests of the American people to continue showering tax benefits on corporations that have shed their American identity in favor of a relationship with China,” he said.

Smith most recently served as the top Republican on the House Budget Committee, and in recent days demonstrated his political skills by working to convince holdout Republicans to back McCarthy in his drawn-out bid for speaker.

Read More: McCarthy Confronts Next Test After Bruising House Speaker Fight

He touts his connections to both the conservative House Freedom Caucus, as well as a recently renamed group of moderates, the Republican Governance Group. A frequent guest on Fox News and Newsmax, he uses those platforms to promote Trump as leader of the party.

Smith, 42, was selected over his main competitor Vern Buchanan of Florida in a close race. Buchanan represents a more moderate wing of the party that’s focused on tax cuts for businesses and promoting free-trade. Representative Adrian Smith, a Nebraska Republican, also sought the seat.

Committee chairs are selected by a panel of GOP leaders and lawmakers representing different regions of the country. The decisions are typically finalized before the new Congress convenes, but those meetings were delayed by weeks as the fractious GOP conference skirmished over who would be House speaker.

Republicans have said they plan to use their control of the Ways and Means committee to conduct oversight of the Internal Revenue Service — including how the agency audits small businesses and looking into recent data leaks. Republicans are also planning their first vote on legislation to rescind some of the $80 billion to rebuild the agency that was included in President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.

Smith honed his political message on inflation and excess spending while serving as the top Republican on the House Budget Committee.

Along with Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, he was behind a request for a Congressional Budget Office report showing Biden’s Build Back Better plan would cost nearly $5 trillion. That helped lead Senator Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, to kill the deal.

Smith has said he also wants to address the massive US trade deficit with China, ensure trade agreements protect American workers, work toward US energy independence and overhaul the welfare system.

During the last two years, Smith sponsored 24 pieces of legislation, with roughly a fifth focusing on tax issues. He raised nearly $3.8 million in the 2022 election cycle, with much of that money coming from the health, real estate and investment industries.

He takes over as the panel’s top Republican from former Representative Kevin Brady, who had served in the role since 2015. Brady retired from Congress at the end of last year.

Democrat Richard Neal of Massachusetts led the panel before his party lost the House majority.

(Updates with statement, starting in the fifth paragraph.)

To contact the reporters on this story:
Laura Davison in Washington at ldavison4@bloomberg.net;
Chris Cioffi in Arlington at ccioffi2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net

Megan Scully, John Harney

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