Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole will almost certainly be the next chairman of the House Appropriations Committee after the House GOP Steering Committee unanimously backed him for the role Tuesday night.
Cole, who ran unopposed, will next need to be ratified by the full conference on Wednesday, a step that is considered a formality. He is replacing Appropriations Chairwoman Kay Granger, R-Texas, who announced she was stepping down from the role last month.
Cole’s only potential competitor, Rep. Robert B. Aderholt, R-Ala., announced Tuesday he would not run. Aderholt, the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee chairman, had expressed some interest in the job and asked the Steering Committee to delay its selection, which was denied.