WASHINGTON, D.C. — Staunch conservative Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) is challenging the Republican establishment in a push to gain a spot in leadership, and Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions is throwing his support behind him.
“I’m a fan of Mike Lee,” said Sen. Sessions (R-Ala.). “What’s wrong with some new blood in the leadership? This team’s been together, they’ve worked hard and harmoniously, but it’s obvious that a lot of people out in the country would like to see some changes in Washington.”
Lee wants to become the next Senate Republican Policy Committee Chair. The Republican Policy Committee is the policy research arm of the Republican Conference. It was established in 1947 along with its Democratic counterpart, the Senate Democratic Policy Committee. Its leader, the Policy Committee chairman, is the fourth-ranking Republican in the Senate, behind the Republican Leader, the Republican Whip, and the Republican Conference Chairman.
The floor leaders and whips of each party are elected by a majority vote of all the senators of their party. The practice has been to choose the leader for a two-year term at the beginning of each Congress.
Under these rules, some are contesting Lee’s ability to seek the chairmanship. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told reporters that the internal conference rules support keeping his entire leadership team in place for another two years. But Lee told colleagues behind closed doors that he disagrees. He believes there’s now an open seat at the leadership table for him or another up-and-coming lawmaker.
Lee has told colleagues in phone conversations that Republican Policy Committee Chairman John Barrasso (R-WY) must step down from his post at the end of the year because of the term limits, and Lee wants to take his place.
The Utah Republican said that he will not challenge Barrasso if it is decided the term limit doesn’t kick in until the end of 2018, but he’s making a forceful argument that Barrasso has only eight and a half months left under the current rules.
Lee now serves as chairman of the Senate Republican Steering Committee, which in recent years has been tasked with generating conservative policy ideas. The Utah Senator, a close colleague of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), is often viewed as one of the top conservative policymakers in the Senate and has proposed sweeping reforms in criminal justice and the tax code.
Sen. Sessions’s decision to back such an anti-establishment move is not at all surprising. Because of the strict adherence in the Senate to the seniority system, Sessions lost the chairmanship of the budget committee to Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) on a tiebreaker technicality in 2014.
Both Sessions and Enzi were elected in 1996, but Sessions is considered more senior as a result of tie-breakers, like state population. However, when senators are elected in the same year, committee seniority is actually decided by drawing lots. And way back in 1996, the random process placed Sen. Enzi one spot ahead of Sen. Sessions when it comes to committee seniority.
Even though Sessions has been the ranking member of the Budget Committee for years when the Democrats controlled the upper chamber, most members of the Senate saw it as well within Enzi’s right to take the Budget chairmanship.
Sessions’ anti-establishment streak has carried over into the presidential election cycle where he has been one of the strongest advocates for GOP front-runner Donald Trump. In March, Trump named Sessions as the head of his national security team and the Alabama senator has continued to serve a critical role in advising the New York billionaire.
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