Congrats to Our New U.S House Appropriations Committee Member Rep. Tom Udall!

Congressman Tom Udall (R), his wife Jill Cooper Udall (L), and Tom's father former Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall (C) voting by paper ballot on election day

Big round of applause! New Mexico's popular and progressive Dem congressman from Northern New Mexico's 3rd congressional district, Rep. Tom Udall, just got appointed to the powerful U.S. House Appropriations Committee. Apparently the move is part of incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's strategy to empower younger Dems who may have less seniority but who possess the spirit, energy and ethics needed to reinvigorate Dem initiatives in the House. This appointment will allow Udall to finally show his stuff. Until now, his time in the House has been dogged by tight Republican rule that made effective Dem participation almost impossible.

An Albuquerque Journal article quoted Rep. Udall, who just won his fifth 2-year term in the U.S. House with 75% of the vote, on his new clout:

This is a powerful, exclusive committee, and I have a much better opportunity to do good things in the state ... Udall said he will push for more money for veterans, health care, affordable education and protection of natural resources in his new role.

Rep. Udall's on a roll these days, with President Bush yesterday signing his bill protecting Northern New Mexico's Valle Vidal from oil and gas drilling. Like other members of his illustrious political family, Tom Udall has been a mighty supporter of all things environmental during his entire career in public service.

The House Appropriations Committee has been a controversial and often unethical "pork" producer in recent years. Vastly increased numbers of often secretive and questionable earmarks were passed out like candy by Repubs in order to bolster the lock-step Party discipline imposed by ex-Rep. Tom DeLay in his role as Majority Leader. However, Rep. Udall says the Dem-dominated 110th Congress will be different. According to an Albuquerque Tribune article:

Udall said he supports the decision of the new House Democratic leadership to leave earmarks - special projects included by lawmakers - off 2007 spending bills while they come up with a way to reform the out-of-control process of earmarking.

"It was a disaster the way the Republicans handled this. It's going to be difficult for everybody, but it's a new day, and we're moving in a new direction," said Udall. "This is going to be viewed very positively. We're reformers."

House rules require that Udall relinquish his Committee memberships on Veterans' Affairs and Small Business and Resources (where he was scheduled to chair a subcommittee) in order to serve on Appropriations. Again quoting the Tribune article:

I think I can do more for New Mexico and the state on the Appropriations Committee. I'm going to continue to fight for priorities I've been fighting for," Udall said. One of those is the national parks system, which has never received the money to eliminate a backlog of maintenance that the Bush administration promised, said Udall.

After Dem victories in November, Udall was also named to the Steering and Outreach Committee of the Democratic Caucus, which deals with committee assignments and other Party business. Looks like it may have given him a well-deserved leg up.

Pelosi's other appointments to Appropriations include Rep.-elect Ciro Rodriguez (Texas) who just won a runoff against Rep. Henry Bonilla (R-Texas), Reps. Ben Chandler (Ky.), Michael Honda (Calif.), Barbara Lee (Calif.), Betty McCollum (Minn.), Tim Ryan (Ohio), C.A. "Dutch" Ruppersberger (Md.), Adam Schiff (Calif.) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.).  The Committee will be chaired by Rep. David Obey (D-Wisconsin).

New Mexico's one and only member of the potent House Appropriations Committee was the late Joe Skeen, a Repub who represented NM-02 from 1981 through 2003, when he passed away. On the Senate side, Repub Sen. Pete Domenici has long been a powerhouse on the Senate Appropriations Committee, although with Dems taking over he'll lose his chairmanship of the Committee's Energy & Water Development Subcommittee.