A former Marine helicopter pilot, John Kline has represented Minnesota’s 2nd district since 2003. His 25 years in the military included a stint as a military aide to Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, with responsibility for carrying the “football,” or black briefcase with nuclear weapon launch codes that accompanies the president at all times. He voted almost 95 percent of the time with his party during the 111th Congress.

Richard “Doc” Hastings, a one-time paper company executive, was among the historic freshman class that swept House Republicans into power in the 1994 midterm elections, under the banner of their “Contract with America.”The former state legislator represents Washington’s 4th district, which encompasses Yakima and the rural heart of the state.

Paul Ryan went to Congress at the age of 28, representing Wisconsin’s 1st congressional district, which includes farm communities as well as southern Milwaukee suburbs. Now 40, Ryan is the senior Republican on the House Budget Committee, which generally oversees federal budgeting and is responsible for an annual budget resolution setting l spending and revenue levels for the coming fiscal year. Now that the GOP has won the House, Ryan seems poised to take over the panel. He also serves as a senior member on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee.

A California congressman since 1978, Jerry Lewis aims to regain the gavel of the U.S. House Appropriations Committee and all the federal budget power that comes with it. Lewis represents California’s 41st District, which stretches from the Nevada border across the Mojave Desert to outer suburbs of Los Angeles. He already served as chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee in 2005-06, and currently is the senior Republican on the panel.

C.W. Bill Young is the most senior Republican serving in the U.S. House and a fixture in Florida politics. First elected in 1970, he represents Florida’s 10th district and the coastal city of St. Petersburg on the Gulf of Mexico.

Spencer Bachus is a nine-term lawmaker from Alabama’s 6th district, which includes the Birmingham and Tuscaloosa suburbs. It is one of the most solidly Republican districts in the country, and Bachus has faced few threats since he was first elected in 1992. Before entering Congress, Bachus was a state senator — one of the first Republicans elected to the Alabama Senate since Reconstruction.

Kentucky’s Hal Rogers, a prime candidate to take over the powerful U.S. House Appropriations Committee, which controls federal spending, has won kudos from many in his state — and a bit of criticism too — for bringing home lots of federal pork since he won his seat in 1980.

Rep. Howard McKeon (R-Calif.) answers to the nickname “Buck,” an appropriate moniker for the man about to help oversee one of the biggest chunks of the federal budget. McKeon, 72, will likely become the next chair of the House Armed Services Committee, which keep watch on defense spending and military policy.

A longtime conservative from Texas, Rep. Joe Barton rocketed onto the national spotlight by famously apologizing to BP during a June hearing for what he called a "shakedown” of the company after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. His sharp words surprised few longtime observers, who know the Texan as a strong ally of the oil and energy industry.