Mr. Jones was never defeated for public office. In the 1854 race he had to be "drafted" at the District Democratic convention to stand again for Congress. He had earlier announced his retirement. He was re-elected again in 1856, postponing his retirement until 1859.
During his time in Washington, Jones of Tennessee chaired two significant committees (Rules Committee and Committee on Roads and Canals) and also served on the District of Columbia Committee and the powerful Ways and Means Committee. He was appointed chair of the Ways and Means Committee by House Speaker Lynn Boyd of Kentucky in 1853. Refusing the appointment, with the explanation that he did not feel qualified for such an exalted position. Mr. Jones pushed forward Congressman George Smith Houston (1811-1879) of Athens, Alabama as the chairman. Mr. Jones served as second on this committee for four years (1853-57).
A zealot for economy in the federal budget and spending, he earned the nickname of "Watchdog of the Treasury" during his service on the Ways and Means Committee. He supported the annexation of Texas, Polk's expansionist Mexican War, the Compromise of 1850, and opposed nullification. In his public utterances, he deplored the posturing of the Southern fire-eaters and their threats of secession and lamented the ill-conceived and worthless Nashville Convention of 1850, which was promoted as a great stance by Southern leadership, in defiance of varied threats to slavery by the North.
Mr. Jones also refused to sign John C. Calhoun's belligerent 1850 Southern Address. In that manifesto, signed by the vast majority of Southern members of Congress, the great Calhoun offered secession as a proper Constitutional response by states to those who would threaten states rights and slavery.
Congressman Jones also dealt with constituents' requests, urgings, and applications. A vital part of congressional power in that era was the power of patronage for the many federal jobs: postmasters, postal contracts, judgeships, and positions in the various cabinet departments (Indian Agents, Custom officers, Foreign Service jobs, Land Office staff, Immigration agents, etc.).
In the 1852 presidential election, the handsome but irresolute Franklin Pierce (1804-1869) of New Hampshire, a Democrat, was elected president, defeating General Winfield Scott of New Jersey, the nominee of the dying Whig Party. Pierce's running mate was sixty-six-year-old former diplomat, congressman, and U.S. Senator William Rufus de Vane King (1786-1853) of Alabama. Having been stricken by tuberculosis in 1852, Vice-President Elect King went to Cuba in early 1853 with the impossible hope of a cure. The U.S. Congress granted King the opportunity to take the Vice-Presidential oath of office on foreign soil, a ceremony unique in United States presidential history.
My Congressman Jones of Tennessee was designated by the House of Representatives to travel to Cuba and witness the swearing in. Other than two American diplomats, Mr. Jones was the only representative of the United States government present for the occasion on March 24, 1853.