Technically, no. He will be the chairman of the subcommittee executing oversight of the TSA for the overall House Committee on Homeland Security. The Appropriations Committee controls the purse strings. Chaffetz, as a chairman of a subcommittee authorizing committee, drafts up a bill that authorizes the TSA to do or not do certain things, but, the appropriators apply the funds. While our hero will have direct control over the contents of the TSA portion of the 2012 Homeland Security authorization act (assuming a name for it), he will have to get it through his boss, Rep Peter King. King is about the biggest Kool-Aid drinker of either party in the entire Congress. So, Chaffetz will have to work very hard to get his language in the final bill. Then, there's the question of the Senate. The authorizing committee in the Senate is Lieberman's. He and King fight each other for the Kool-Aid bucket ladle. The House and Senate authorizing committees don't exactly line up, so, it's more difficult to reach a conference agreement between the two houses in Homeland Security.

I have no visibility into the personal dynamics between King and Chaffetz. There are three ways to speculate:

1. King really wants to reel in the TSA and put Chaffetz in charge of the subcommittee with carte blanch;
2. King put Chaffetz in charge of the subcommittee but will keep him on a short leash;
3. Boehner and the House republican leadership put Chaffetz in as committee chair over King's objections.

If you are in his district, communicate with him about the TSA often. If you aren't in his district, communicate with one of the subcommittee members who might be in your district. If your guy isn't a subcommittee member, communicate with them often anyway and let them know that you support Chaffetz's views on the TSA and that you expect your guy to support Chaffetz, even to co-sponsoring his bills.