U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin of Little Rock said Friday he had been named to the powerful House Ways Committee and will not seek higher office in two years.
“I will not seek the Senate in 2014 and I will not seek the governorship in 2014,” he said. “I’m going to focus on this job.”
The Ways and Means Committee is the starting point for a wide range of legislation that is being hotly debated as Congress attempts to hammer out a deficit reduction deal. The panel crafts policy on the tax code, entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare and foreign trade.
Given the intense focus on Capitol Hill on deficit reduction, Griffin said the work on the committee will be “critically important.”
Griffin had been one of several Republicans mentioned as potential challengers to Sen. Mark Pryor, a Democrat up for re-election in 2014. He’d also been seen as a strong candidate for the governor’s mansion, which will be open in 2014 because Gov. Mike Beebe, a Democrat is term-limited.
Griffin, who said he was the first Arkansas Republican ever to be named to the committee, follows in the footsteps of several Arkansas politicians who have sat on the panel.
Wilbur Mills, who, like Griffin, represented the state’s 2nd district, was named to the committee in 1942. He was chairman from 1958 until 1975, and served on the committee until 1977.
Other Arkansans followed: Former Reps. Jim Guy Tucker and Beryl Anthony served consecutively on the committee until Anthony was defeated in the 1992 Democratic House primary.
Read more on this story in tomorrow's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.