Ryan picks his negotiating team for tax cut bill

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Monday evening named nine Republicans from relevant committees to serve on the House-Senate conference committee on tax-cut legislation.

The conference will be led by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) and include four other GOP members of the tax-writing panel: Reps. Devin Nunes (Calif.), Peter Roskam (Ill.), Diane Black (Tenn.) and Kristi Noem (S.D.).

Nunes is a senior member of the panel, Roskam is chairman of the Ways and Means tax-policy subcommittee and Black is chairwoman of the House Budget Committee. Noem has been prominently featured at events promoting the tax efforts, particularly on efforts to repeal the estate tax. Both Black and Noem are running for governor.

Ryan also named four GOP lawmakers to the conference to focus on provisions outside of the Ways and Means Committee’s jurisdiction. The Senate-passed bill allows for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, sells oil from the strategic petroleum reserve and repeals ObamaCare’s individual mandate.

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) and committee member Don Young (R-Alaska) will be on the conference committee as well as House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) and panel member John Shimkus (R-Ill.).

The announcement of the conference members follows a vote earlier Monday evening to go to conference with the Senate.

– updated at 9:16 p.m.