Rep. John Kline to retire in 2016

September 3, 2015

By Justin Haas

Rep. John Kline (R) announced today that he would retire at the end of the 114th Congress. Kline has represented Minnesota's 2nd Congressional District since 2003 and is the current chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

Had Kline won re-election in 2016, he would have lost his committee chairmanship due to GOP term limits for committee chairs. As a result of this rule, committee chairmen will often retire rather than seek re-election for another term. In 2014, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R) and Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R) chose to retire when they reached their term limits. Additionally, Candice Miller (R), the term-limited chair of the House Administration Committee, has already announced that she will retire at the end of the current term.

Kline discussed his retirement in a Facebook post. "After much careful thought and deliberation, I have decided not to seek re-election next year... I want to be clear — much more work lies ahead in the next 16 months. As Chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee I look forward to replacing No Child Left Behind and reducing the federal footprint in our schools," he wrote.

See also

• John Kline
• Minnesota's 2nd Congressional District election, 2016
• United States House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce