Gov. Charlie Baker: Ascent of Reps. Richard Neal, Jim McGovern 'a good development'Click here to read the news story
Washington, DC,
November 8, 2018
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Shira Schoenberg, MassLive
The Republican Party that Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker belongs to lost control of the U.S. House on Tuesday. But Baker does not sound unhappy. The silver lining for the GOP governor is that two members of Massachusetts' all-Democratic congressional delegation are now poised to become some of the most powerful members of the House. U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, of Springfield, is expected to become chairman of the budget-writing Ways and Means Committee, which also oversees tax policy. U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, representing Massachusetts' 2nd Congressional District, is poised to lead the House Rules Committee, which decides what bills come to the floor. "I do believe that both of those gentlemen, who we've worked with on a variety of issues, and successfully, moving up in the House should be a very good thing for Massachusetts and a very good thing for New England," Baker said. Baker, who frequently works with Massachusetts Democrats, said his administration has "a really good relationship" with the congressional delegation, including McGovern and Neal. Asked about Democrats winning the House, Baker said, "I certainly expect that predicting what this all means at the federal level at this point in time won't be terribly productive." But Baker said he has worked with Neal and McGovern in the past and will look forward to working with them again. "I think that's a good development," Baker said. Baker has generally tried to distance himself from the national Republican Party, and he has been a frequent critic of Republican President Donald Trump. The governor said he sees as one of the "more positive developments" of Tuesday's election nationally that Vermont Gov. Phil Scott, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, all moderate Republicans, won re-election. "I think as a region, the message that we've been able to promote ... is people want their public officials to spend a little less time yelling at each other and a little more time actually trying to accomplish things," Baker said. |