GOP Taps Frosh for Pay and Benefits Slots

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrel Issa, R-Calif., has tapped two freshman lawmakers to oversee federal pay and benefits issues, the Washington Post's Ed OKeefe reports today.

Rep. Dennis A. Ross, R-Fla., will serve as chairman of the panel's subcommittee on the federal workforce, and Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., will be its vice chairman.

Ross succeeded Rep. Adam Putnam, who left his seat to run successfully for commissioner of agriculture in Florida. According to the Almanac of American Politics, Ross won "by playing up his similarities to Putnam's conservative philosophy, as well as touting his support from former-Gov. Jeb Bush, former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, and other Republican luminaries."

Amash, 30, is the youngest member of the Republican freshman class. According to the Almanac, he "counts himself as an admirer of both the 19th-century author Frederic Bastiat, who argued against taxing people to pay for schools or roads, and the 20th-century writer Friedrich Hayek (a favorite of the tea party movement), who strongly opposed government intervention in the economy." He also won attention for his use of social media in promoting his campaign and explaining his votes as a state legislator.