Boehner names transition committee chair

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WASHINGTON, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- House Republican leader John Boehner Wednesday named Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., to lead the team that will prepare the chamber in the transition to GOP majority.

Boehner said Walden would be the chairman of a committee tasked to ensure that the House will be ready to hit the ground running next year and "get to work immediately on the priorities of the American people."

"As a former small businessman, skilled legislator and trusted member of our leadership team, Greg Walden is the right person to lead this transition effort," said Boehner.

Walden was elected Tuesday to a seventh term in Oregon's sprawling Second District, which covers the largely rural eastern half of the state.

The (Portland) Oregonian said Walden served earlier this year on a House Republican task force that worked on ideas that included making it easier to reduce program funding than it would be to increase funding.

"Leader Boehner has pledged to run the House differently than it has been run by both Democrats and Republicans in the past," Walden said in a written statement. "The groundwork for these changes will be laid through the transition process."