Dan Nowicki

The Republic | azcentral.com

U.S. Rep. David Schweikert has a new seat on the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, considered one of the most powerful and influential panels on Capitol Hill because it has jurisdiction over taxes, Social Security, Medicare and trade and tariff legislation.

An enthusiastic Schweikert, R-Ariz., told The Arizona Republic that he looks forward to tackling tax reform, which he described as not necessarily just cutting taxes but rather overhauling the federal tax system "to maximize economic growth."

But Schweikert also will be at the center of the action as Republicans move forward to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, or "Obamacare," and if incoming President Donald Trump makes good on his promises to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement and other trade deals.

"It's just this massive amount of jurisdiction," Schweikert said. "The solvency of Social Security. The health-care reforms, the alternative to the Washington, D.C.-based health-care model — a lot of that will come through the Ways and Means Committee."

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The elevation of Schweikert to the Ways and Means Committee is a dramatic reversal of fortune for him.

It comes four years after he was unceremoniously bounced off the U.S. House Financial Services Committee, another high-powered committee though not considered quite as prestigious as Ways and Means.

Schweikert was among a small group of House conservatives who fell out of favor with then-House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and his more-moderate GOP leadership team. They were punished in late 2012 with the loss of key committee assignments.

Schweikert that year had defeated fellow incumbent U.S. Rep. Ben Quayle, R-Ariz., in the 6th Congressional District's Republican primary. He speculated in a December 2012 radio interview that "the more outspoken conservatives" were targeted for committee reassignments and that "there is retribution for voting your conscience now."

He got his Financial Services seat back in November 2014.

Schweikert has a more positive relationship with current House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.

Schweikert, who was first elected in 2010 and has now started his fourth term, also represents the West on the House GOP Steering Committee, which actually makes decisions about committee assignments, but he acknowledged that "Paul Ryan's input, I know, was very important."

According to a review of congressional directories, Schweikert becomes only the second Arizonan to serve on the panel, after former Rep. J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz., who had a Ways and Means seat from 1997 until 2007.

"This is something that I've wanted to do since I got here, but the spots are often very, very limited and prized," Schweikert said.

One political expert said Schweikert's getting the coveted seat probably has something to do with the House GOP leadership's general outreach to conservative members of the Freedom Caucus.

The Ways and Means Committee is the top House assignment because it has jurisdiction over "the three T's — taxes, transfers and tariffs — and, actually, a majority of federal spending and an important part of trade policy," said John J. "Jack" Pitney, Jr., who teaches about government at Claremont McKenna College in southern California.

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There are also political benefits for Ways and Means members, who find the committee an effective perch from which to raise money from special interests eager to curry favor.

Schweikert downplayed the possibility that his new role could help swell his campaign coffers.

"Where I disagree with that is that when you're going into an issue such as tax reform, there are going to be as many people mad at you as happy," Schweikert said. "You've got to have a pretty thick skin because everything has someone on each side, and for every friend you make you have someone who's upset with you. So that job is just to do what's right for Arizona and for the country."

Schweikert, who has a reputation as a policy wonk, said the Ways and Means Committee fits his personality.

"I am just geeking out," he said. "I have all these big binders I am trying to figure out how to put in the suitcase to fly home. I'm going to spend this weekend just reading over economic analyses on tax plans."

Nowicki is The Republic's national political reporter. Follow him on Twitter at @dannowicki and on his official Facebook page.