The House Steering Committee voted Thursday to allow Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) to serve a second term as chair of the Transportation Committee, as has been expected since his lone challenger dropped out of contention for the gavel earlier this week.
The decision comes a week after Steering granted Graves a waiver to bypass conference term limits that hold members to a total of three terms. Graves has spent two terms as ranking member and one as chair.
Graves had presented a condensed version of the pitch he made for his waiver in which he hammered home the case to the panel that he can move quickly to implement President-elect Donald Trump’s priorities in the new Congress, especially when it comes to the impending surface transportation bill. The Steering panel apparently liked that pitch, which also was likely strengthened by Graves having only had one full term as chair.
