Salazar nabs House Appropriations seat, steps away from USDA post
By PETER ROPER THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
December 11, 2008 11:35 am
Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., has been appointed to the House Appropriations Committee - which writes the federal budget each year - ending speculation the San Luis Valley farmer was going to be nominated by President-elect Barack Obama to head the Agriculture Department.
In a conference call Thursday morning, Salazar said he has been lobbying the House Democratic leadership for six months for a position on the appropriations committee, perhaps the most sought-after panel in the House because it determines spending for all government agencies.
"This is a great win for Colorado and the 3rd Congressional District," Salazar said in announcing the plum assignment. "I look forward to serving in this capacity for many years to come."
Salazar said he had talked with Obama's transition team about heading USDA in the past two weeks, but had not sought that job - unlike the post on the House spending committee. He would not flatly refuse to accept the USDA post if offered, but the fact that he has been appointed to the appropriations committee takes him out of consideration for all practical purposes.
"If President-elect Obama asked me to serve, I would have to consider it, but this committee assignment would make it very difficult to leave my House seat," Salazar said, indicating he considered his political future set for at least the next few years.
"I plan to be here as long as the people of the 3rd District will have me," he said.
Salazar, 55, was just elected to his third term in the House and had been serving on the agriculture, veterans and transportation committees. Moving to the appropriations panel will give him much more influence on all government spending decisions affecting Colorado.
One obvious example of that is the three-year battle over the Army's effort to expand the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site northeast of Trinidad by acquiring 100,000 more acres of private land. Salazar has sponsored two successful, yearlong spending bans on the Army using any money to work on the expansion - a ban Army officials have ignored in the past six months, claiming they had money from earlier budget years to pay for soliciting landowners.
That argument may be over with Salazar on the House spending panel.
"I think we'll have a little more influence in that respect and I'm pretty happy about it," Salazar said in an obvious understatement.
