Nearly every member of the Breakfast Club, an informal band of fiscal hawks, was doled out a chairmanship at the start of the new Congress, marking a dramatic rise to power for five men who spent years needling Senate leadership.

Two became chairmen after serving as the top Republican in the minority: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) took over the Commerce Committee, while Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) runs Homeland Security.

Two more rose to the top of their committee for the first time: Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) was named Energy chairman, while Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) leads the Aging panel.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), the fifth Breakfast Club member, assumed control of Paul’s subcommittee on investigations.

The chairmanships afford each senator the power to set the agenda, deciding what bills get brought before the committee and which hearings are scheduled.

The coveted subpoena power, meanwhile, allows the chairmen to compel testimony or demand documents under threat of contempt of Congress.

The conservatives have wasted no time exercising their newfound authority as Republicans work to confirm President Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees quickly, with Lee in particular taking a sharp-elbowed approach to confirmation hearings.

He initially scheduled two of them without all paperwork in hand, ignoring the complaints of Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM), the top Democrat on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Ordinarily, the panel is an island of bipartisanship.

At the same time, two Breakfast Club Republicans have moved to centralize subpoena power. The Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee amended its rules so that Paul, as chairman, can now issue subpoenas unilaterally.

On other Senate panels, a subpoena requires buy-in from the ranking member or a full committee vote.

Cruz moved to give himself unilateral authority as well, scheduling a meeting to change the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee’s rules, but he was apparently met with resistance from the White House over his desire to crack down on Big Tech.

Cruz later postponed the committee hearing.

The early steps suggest the aggressive approach that will be taken by a crop of Republicans not used to compromise.

Senators like Cruz have moved in the direction of bipartisanship, helping to pass a sweeping air travel and safety bill last year while in the minority. But he is at heart the same firebrand who came to prominence waging a shutdown fight over Obamacare in 2013.

Lee has incentive to work together with Heinrich, as both represent Western states with areas for common ground, but he also revels in using Senate rules to outmaneuver the Democrats.

Until January, Lee led the Steering Committee, a conservative bloc akin to the Freedom Caucus that regularly huddles on floor strategy.

He handed the committee over to Scott, who has used the position to introduce Senate Republicans to influential members of the Trump White House. Scott has so far brought Susie Wiles, Trump’s chief of staff, and Stephen Miller, his policy adviser, to weekly lunches attended by most of the conference.

The rise of the Breakfast Club, named after their morning get-togethers, means priorities that have previously been marginalized are now given serious investigative focus.

Paul, a critic of the federal pandemic response, subpoenaed 14 federal agencies last month over COVID-19 and so-called gain-of-function research.

Johnson subpoenaed the Department of Health and Human Services for the emails of Dr. Anthony Fauci, Trump’s COVID-19 czar, as well as documents related to vaccine safety.

The two men are unlikely to be stonewalled with Trump in the White House.

The chairmanships are also an opportunity to bring forward their favored pieces of legislation. Cruz has already ushered through his committee a ban on social media for children under 13 with overwhelming bipartisan support.

The sheer breadth of the committee’s jurisdiction means that he will have other opportunities to shape everything from transportation safety to how college athletes are compensated.

Airline safety, in particular, has come to the fore following the deadly collision at Reagan National Airport.

Outside of chairmanships, the Breakfast Club will have outsize sway over reconciliation, a budget process that Republicans will use to craft legislation on the border and national security.

Between Scott, Paul, and Lee, they account for a quarter of the Republicans on the Budget Committee, while Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), its chairman, is loosely affiliated with the Breakfast Club.

“The three of us are on the Budget Committee, so we definitely have a role,” said Johnson.

Committee chairs have only so much influence over what actually passes Congress. Many bills are ushered through committee, only to be blocked from a floor vote by leadership.

“I mean, the Senate is run by senators, and every senator has equal power, and chairmen get to set an agenda, but the person with the disproportionate, really is the leader,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND).

Still, the elevation of so many rabble-rousers to influential committee posts is part of a larger shift in Senate power after Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), long vilified by the group, stepped down as GOP leader in January.

He was replaced by Sen. John Thune (R-SD), who promised regular order and more member input to win last November’s leadership elections.

The chairmanships were doled out based on seniority and complicated conference rules. In fact, Thune was next in line to chair the Commerce Committee, but Republicans have for years barred their leader from running a panel.

The same rule goes for Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), who forgoed the Energy chairmanship to become majority whip.

The retirement of former Sen. Mike Braun, who left the Senate to become Indiana governor, cleared the way for Scott to take over the Aging Committee. Braun was previously a member of the Breakfast Club.

The unity of Senate Republicans will be tested in the coming months as leadership navigates deadlines over government funding and the debt ceiling. But Thune has so far managed to keep his right flank satisfied, earning the praise of Scott and other Republicans.

“It’s a hard job. I think he’s doing what he ran on,” Scott, who challenged Thune for leader, previously told the Washington Examiner. “I think he’s just trying to bring people together. I’ve had lots of conversations with him.”