Kingston seeking to chair Appropriations Committee

A Georgia Congressmen is among those vying to head up the powerful House Appropriations Committee.

“I am a committed conservative with a long track record to prove it,” U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., said in letter to members of the House Republican Conference. Kingston noted that he has a 96 percent lifetime score with the American Conservative Union.

“As Chairman of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee when Republican spending was at its worst, I cut the budget by 1 percent,” Kingston wrote. “I also introduced a number of reforms such as privatizing the power plant, reining in the runaway spending at the Capitol Visitors Center and stopping the explosion in the Capitol Police force.”

Kingston has served in Congress since 1993. In 2007, Kingston was appointed as the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee’s Agriculture Subcommittee.

U.S. Reps. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., and Hal Rogers, R-Ky., are also seeking to chair the committee.

A vote to decide the next chair of the Appropriations Committee is expected next week.