Eight GOP freshmen to join House Foreign Affairs panel

By Bridget Johnson - 01/21/11 03:22 PM ET

Eight freshmen will join their Republican colleagues on the House Foreign Affairs Committee in the 112th Congress.

Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) announced the lineup, which includes the last Congress's roster of Foreign Affairs veterans, on Friday.

Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio), who won her third full term in November, also joins the panel.

The GOP freshmen coming on board are Reps. Bill Johnson (Ohio), David Rivera (Fla.), Mike Kelly (Pa.), Tim Griffin (Ark.), Tom Marino (Pa.), Jeff Duncan (S.C.), Ann Marie Buerkle (N.Y.) and Renee Ellmers (N.C.).

In an interview with The Hill just after being named head of the panel, Ros-Lehtinen enthusiastically embraced the freshman class and hoped that a good number of its members would end up on the committee.

"I am so enthusiastically awaiting our freshman members because they get it," she said. "They understand that America is the world's superpower and they're not ashamed of it. They're not like President Obama — whether we want to be or not — yes, hell yes, we are and we're darn proud of it, and they understand the difference between our allies and our enemies."

Ros-Lehtinen has outlined an agenda of greater oversight this Congress, as well as vowed to confront Iran and its growing nuclear ambitions.