State Rep. to head influential GOP committee

A Georgia Congressman has taken a step-up the ladder in the U.S. Congress.

Representative Tom Price of Roswell was elected the next chairman of the influential Republican Study Committee. It includes more than half of U.S. House Republicans, and is the largest of the House caucuses.

Price says his new role will be to preserve a needed contrast between the incoming Obama administration, and what Price says many American people want.

Price is a former Senate Majority leader in Georgia’s Legislature. He’s earned more of a spotlight by serving as a lead GOP advocate on major legislative disputes. He was elected to Congress in 2004.

Georgia Republicans vow no ear-marking

Half of Georgia’s Republicans have committed to end earmarking in the US House and pledged to give up pet spending requests for their districts. Paul Broun of Athens, Nathan Deal of Gainesville, Tom Price of Roswell, and Lynne Westmoreland of Granstville say they will forgo earmarks for at least one year.

Most of them are relatively new members who don’t have the seniority to fetch much spending. They are making their stand after their party lost power in the last election.

Democrat Sanford Bishop of Albany said, “It seems to me to be a little hypocritical given the fact that Republicans broke the record on earmarks when they were in the position to control them.”

But the Republicans say quitting earmarking will help reign in free-spending in Washington.

(The Associated Press)