United States Senate Republican Policy Committee

The Senate Republican Policy Committee is the policy research arm of the Republican Conference. Its predecessor, the Senate Republican Steering Committee was formed in March 1944 after Leader Charles L. McNary's death. It became formally funded and renamed the Policy Committee in 1947 along with its Democratic counterpart, the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, after the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946. Funding for staff of both party policy committees comes directly from the legislative branch.^[1]

According to Congressional Quarterly, "the Policy Committee is in effect a legislative think tank. The committee organizes the prominent Tuesday lunches with summaries of major bills, analysis of roll call votes and distribution of issue papers."^[2]

List of chairs

Congress	Name	State	Term Length	Notes
80th	Robert A. Taft	Ohio	Jan. 3, 1947 – Jan. 3, 1953	Son of President Taft
81st
82nd
83rd	William F. Knowland	California	Jan. 3, 1953 - Aug. 4, 1953
83rd	Homer S. Ferguson	Michigan	Aug. 4, 1953 – Jan. 3, 1955
84th	Styles Bridges	New Hampshire	Jan. 3, 1955 – Nov. 26, 1961
85th
86th
87th
87th	Bourke B. Hickenlooper	Iowa	Jan. 3, 1962 – Jan. 3, 1969
88th
89th
90th
91st	Gordon Allott	Colorado	Jan. 3, 1969 – Jan. 3, 1973
92nd
93rd	John Tower	Texas	Jan. 3, 1973 – Jan. 3, 1985
94th
95th
96th
97th
98th
99th	William L. Armstrong	Colorado	Jan. 3, 1985 – Jan. 3, 1991
100th
101st
102nd	Don Nickles	Oklahoma	Jan. 3, 1991 – June 12, 1996
103rd
104th
104th	Larry Craig	Idaho	June 12, 1996 – Jan. 3, 2003
105th
106th
107th
108th	Jon Kyl	Arizona	Jan. 3, 2003 – Jan. 3, 2007
109th
110th	Kay Bailey Hutchison	Texas	Jan. 3, 2007 – Jan. 3, 2009	First woman to hold position
111th	John Ensign	Nevada	Jan. 3, 2009 - June 17, 2009	Resigned
111th	John Thune	South Dakota	June 17, 2009 – Jan. 26, 2012
112th
112th	John Barrasso	Wyoming	Jan. 26, 2012 – Jan. 3, 2019
113th
114th
115th
116th	Roy Blunt	Missouri	Jan. 3, 2019 – Jan. 3, 2023
117th
118th	Joni Ernst	Iowa	Jan. 3, 2023 - Jan. 3, 2025
119th	Shelley Moore Capito	West Virginia	Jan. 3, 2025 - present