Longtime Capitol Hill staffer Shannon Hines, who has served as the Republican staff director for the Senate Appropriations Committee and its defense panel since April, 2018, is moving on to become the senior vice president of Washington, D.C., operations for Textron, Inc. [TXT].
Hines will take the head Textron lobbyist reins from Stewart Holmes, who recently moved to shipbuilder, Huntington Ingalls Industries [HII].
After college, Hines began her congressional career in 1995 in the office of former Rep. Fred Heineman (R-N.C.).
“Shannon Hines has been one of the most valuable members of my staff throughout my career,” Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said in a Jan. 14 statement.
“Not only has she been an asset to me, but she has proved to be essential in our work to fund the government and our nation’s defense during my time in leadership on the Appropriations Committee,” he said. “Shannon has served in many important roles on my staff, including legislative director, chief of staff, senior policy adviser for the Senate Banking Committee, staff director for the Senate Rules Committee, and staff director for the Senate Appropriations Committee and its defense subcommittee. Her 27 years of service on Capitol Hill deserve the utmost praise.”
Hines became the first woman staff director of the Senate Appropriations Committee in 2018.
Hines said in a telephone interview that she will continue her work for the committee in the coming days before moving to Textron.
“In my remaining days, I’m going to continue to work for Sen. Shelby and the Senate to try to do what I can to advance the appropriations process,” she said. “Sen. Shelby has said for many months now that he wants to get bills, but that can’t come at any cost. I think there is a path forward where we can all be successful and achieve the necessary objectives of getting the government funded so that we don’t see the impacts of the Continuing Resolution. Certainly, Sen. Shelby sees that a Continuing Resolution without anomalies would be challenging for the Department of Defense. We would like to avoid that, if at all possible. It certainly impacts new starts, provided there are no anomalies, and we recognize that. We are trying to get to ‘yes’ so we can get bills done, but Sen. Shelby has been clear in his direction to me and our staff, ‘Not at any cost.'”
The Continuing Resolution is valid through Feb. 18.
William Duhnke III, the former Republican staff director for the Senate Appropriations Committee, is to assume the role once again when Hines moves to Textron.
Duhnke has been the general counsel on the committee staff since last year after the newly installed Democratic Securities and Exchange Commission chairman , Gary Gensler, removed Duhnke from his position as chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.
“Bill Duhnke is highly qualified to be my next staff director on the Appropriations Committee,” Shelby said on Jan. 14. “He brings a great level of respect and discipline to the workplace and has consistently demonstrated his ability to spearhead tasks and get things done. With significant experience and intellect, Bill is a trusted adviser and thoroughly understands the appropriations process.”