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Ben Cline wants to be chair of the influential House Republican Study Committee

Gene Zitver
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Sixth District Republican Congressman Ben Cline has announced his candidacy to chair the House Republican Study Committee, “the largest conservative caucus in Congress” that “has provided past chairs with a seat at key meetings with leadership.”

The chairmanship has served as a springboard into high-profile positions within the House GOP, with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) and former Vice President Mike Pence having served in the role.

The group has played an influential role in shaping the House GOP’s policy agenda, laying out conservative proposals that have been utilized in Republican messaging and pushed legislation to the right.

Cline currently serves at the RSC’s Budget and Spending Task Force chair. In March the RSC released a report (which Cline happily introduced) that included plans to:

  • Slash Social Security and Medicare benefits for future retirees.
  • Ban universal free school meals.
  • Shred the Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program, which funds local law enforcement and community safety.
  • Enact the Life at Conception Act, which would ban abortion at any stage of pregnancy after conception for any reason and make in vitro fertilization impossible.

Gene Zitver is the editor of ClineWatch.