Ryan promotes staffers to Ways and Means

Incoming Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan is promoting two longtime advisers as the top hands on the panel, and he is bringing on a former senior aide to Speaker John Boehner as his communications director.

Joyce Meyer, who has been with Ryan (R-Wis.) since 1999, will be the staff director of the powerful committee. Austin Smythe, who has been with Ryan since 2007, will serve as policy director. And Brendan Buck, who was Boehner’s press secretary and more recently the vice president at America’s Health Insurance Plans, will be the communications director. Meyer, Smythe and Buck are three Ryan insiders and will quickly become among the most powerful aides on Capitol Hill.


“This group brings the talent and experience needed to help the members of this committee get our economy back on track,” Ryan said in a news release. “And they have my trust. We have a lot of work to do on behalf of the American people, and I’m eager to get started with such a great team.”

The Ways and Means Committee will be a power center in the new Republican controlled Capitol Hill. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Boehner and Ryan have expressed interest in tax reform - and the Ways and Means Committee would play a crucial role in crafting any overhaul of the tax code. The panel is also charged with trade agreements, a potential area of agreement with the Obama administration.

Meyer, Smythe and Buck are not only well respected but they’re widely liked by Capitol Hill insiders. Both Meyer and Buck also worked for Ryan when he was the vice presidential candidate in 2012.

The moves also come as Ryan mulls his political future. He has been eyeing 2016 presidential bid and has said that he will make his decision in 2015.