The competition to be the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee in the next Congress is gearing up even as the panel’s current chairman is hoping for a waiver to continue to hold the top spot in January — if he doesn’t go to work for a potential second Trump administration.
With six months left in the current Congress, three senior members of the committee have thrown their hats into the GOP leadership race, their offices confirmed: Vice Chairwoman Ann Wagner of Missouri, Middle East Subcommittee Chairman Joe Wilson of South Carolina and Rep. Darrell Issa of California.
After three terms as the committee’s top Republican, Chairman Michael McCaul of Texas is term-limited out of the position by House GOP rules unless he receives a waiver from the Republican Steering Committee, which largely acts as an arm of the conference’s leadership.
