Rep. Price eyes moving up in GOP leadership

Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), a conservative who chairs the Republican Policy Committee, is eyeing a bid to move up in the GOP leadership ranks in the next Congress.

Price, in an interview with C-SPAN, confirmed that he may seek to become chairman of the House Republican Conference, a position that Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) is also reportedly eyeing.

{mosads}But the Georgia lawmaker cast himself as looking at various possibilities. “We are looking at all sorts of options that are out there and we will see what the future brings,” Price said in the interview airing this weekend when asked about possibly seeking the conference chairmanship.

When asked why he would make a better conference chair than McMorris Rodgers, Price declined to campaign on the air. “These races aren’t run in the press. These are races that are within the Republican conference itself. My number one job right now is to make certain I chair the Policy Committee in a way that is as positive and productive as possible,” he said.

Price made the comments in a wider interview that also touched on the GOP response if President Obama’s healthcare law is struck down by the Supreme Court, tax policy, and other issues.

Price touted GOP plans to vote this summer to extend Bush-era tax rates, and more broadly suggested that lawmakers should not wait until the end of the year to address various expiring tax provisions.

“All of these things expiring at the end of the year – we believe in the House, the House Republicans believe, it is important to address those sooner rather than later,” Price said.

“So what I think we will do is to pass a piece of legislation that will continue the current tax policy for at least a year and send that to the Senate, let the Senate act,” he said.