The Center for Public Integrity

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.

Dave Camp of Michigan, the presumptive new chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, was first elected two decades ago and his conservative views on fiscal issues have won him broad backing in the business community.

Peter T. King, one of just two Republicans in New York’s current 28-member House delegation, has represented much of Long Island’s Nassau and Suffolk Counties since 1993. Earlier this year, the lawmaker from New York’s 3rd Congressional District considered a run for U.S. Senate against appointed incumbent Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand, but ultimately opted to run for re-election to his House seat.

Officials from the Obama administration will likely be frequent visitors to this panel once Darrell Issa takes the gavel.