House Appropriations Committee shuffles top GOP staff

Rogers has promoted Will Smith to staff director from deputy staff director and Jim Kulikowski  from chief counsel to deputy staff director.

{mosads}Smith replaces William Inglee, who headed the majority staff for two years.

Inglee, who has had a 30-year congressional staff career and had once been the chief lobbyist for Lockheed Martin, is leaving to return to the private sector and to engage in political consulting.

Rogers has employed Smith for 15 years and counts on him as a trusted confidante. Smith previously worked for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)

Kulikowski has worked for the committee for more than 19 years, and he was clerk of the Commerce, Justice, and Science Subcommittee when Rogers was its chairman.