DEMOCRATS OUST SENIOR APPROPRIATIONS MEMBER KNOLLENBERG
Vicki Needham

CongressNow
November 5, 2008 Wednesday

House Appropriations Committee cardinal Joe Knollenberg
(R-Mich.) tonight lost a bid for his ninth term to former state
lottery commissioner and state Sen. Gary Peters.

Knollenberg most recently was ranking member on the Appropriations
Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development,
and Related Agencies – a key slot given the automobile industry’s
importance for his home state. He served as chairman for two years
when the GOP controlled the House before becoming ranking member.

Previously, he was chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on the
District of Columbia and the Appropriations Subcommittee on Military
Construction, Veterans’ Affairs and Related Agencies in 2003.

While heading the military construction subpanel, Knollenberg pushed
for raising the cap to allow the Pentagon to hire private construction
companies for military housing improvements. After a protracted
fight, and with help from Democrats, the cap was increased in the
2004 defense authorization bill.

Recently, Knollenberg has been working to secure $25 billion in
loan guarantees for automakers to retool their plants to build
more energy-efficient cars. He was outspoken in pushing the Bush
administration to find a way to provide needed funding, whether via
the loan guarantees or as part of the $700 financial bailout package
he had voted for.

As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, Knollenberg moved
to zero out funding for the statistics required for corporate average
fuel economy standards and managed to eliminate funding for the 1997
Kyoto treaty, which was never ratified by the Senate.

Knollenberg strongly supported the North American Free Trade Agreement
and permanent normal trade relations with China.

As co-chairman of the Congressional Armenian Caucus, he pressed
successfully for equal amounts of military aid for Armenia and
Azerbaijan and to more than double aid to Armenia.

Knollenberg pulled out a 52 percent to 46 percent victory in 2006,
the narrowest of his career.

The most senior Republican on the T-HUD subcommittee is Rep. Frank
Wolf (Va.), who is facing his own tough challenge this year. It’s
also possible that another cardinal will want to shift to the T-HUD
subcommittee.