WASHINGTON, DC — Today Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX), announced his senior staff team for the Ways and Means Committee.  David Stewart will lead the professional team as committee staff director, Matt Weidinger as deputy committee staff director and Lori Harju as senior advisor.

Chairman Brady noted, “These are highly respected professional staff with decades of Ways and Means experience and strong policy backgrounds. They will form the nucleus of a talented committee staff to help our members advance an aggressive  pro-growth agenda to get this nation back on track.”

Stewart began his Ways and Means experience in 2000 with then-Congressman Phil English, a prominent committee member. He has served as economic advisor to Governor Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign and as policy director for vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan. Since 2008, he served Speaker John Boehner focusing on a broad range of issues including taxation, international trade, financial services, public finance, social entitlements, and pension issues, including since 2013 as policy director.

Weidinger has been the Republican staff director of the Human Resources Subcommittee of Ways and Means since 2001 handling welfare, unemployment and employment issues. His Ways and Means Committee experience began in 1990 as senior legislative assistant to the late Rep. Clay Shaw of Florida. He has worked as a professional committee staff member for both the Human Resources and Social  Security subcommittees, and helped draft the landmark 1996 welfare reform law.

Harju worked for her local Michigan Congressman Guy Vander Jagt during the 1986 Tax Reform Act deliberations, as well as Ways and Means senior leaders Phil Crane and former-chairman Dave Camp. She served in the George W. Bush administration as head of  congressional affairs for the International Trade Administration. She will continue her role as chief of staff to Brady, a role she’s held since since 2014.