Hoping to temper the Democratic majority’s appetite for taxes, veteran Republican lawmakers were re-elected to their leadership positions in the Massachusetts House and Senate on Wednesday, the first day of the 2017-2018 session.

One Republican legislative leader also criticized Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives for a “misstep” on a proposal earlier this week to rein in congressional ethics watchdogs.

With unanimous backing by their caucuses, the House and Senate minority leaders retained the positions from which they offer conservative initiatives and seek to check the agenda of Democrats who for more than half a century have controlled the Legislature.

House Minority Leader Brad Jones of North Reading has led his caucus since late 2002, steering the opposition party through the remaining years of Speaker Tom Finneran, the entirety of Speaker Sal DiMasi’s term and through Robert DeLeo’s eight years and counting as head of the House.

Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr of Gloucester has helmed the “minority corner” or “minority crescent” since 2011, through much of the Senate presidency of Therese Murray and the beginning of Stan Rosenberg’s tenure atop the Senate. Rosenberg was re-elected to his second term as Senate president Wednesday.

While Tarr lavished praise on Rosenberg for his commitment to “shared leadership,” Jones urged DeLeo to adopt a stance against broad-based tax hikes.

“There can be no clearer or better message that we can send regarding the economy and to the taxpayers than renewing in bipartisan fashion your pledge to refrain from any broad-based statewide tax increase,” Jones said in a speech to the House on Wednesday. “The way to raise the revenues we need and the revenues we want is to broaden the base not raise the rate. I’m confident that by doing so, Mr. Speaker, you will continue to have many allies here as well as in the Corner Office.”

Such a pledge would leave open the door to more targeted tax increases on the forthcoming regulated sale of marijuana or taxes on vacation rentals.

Asked about a no-new-taxes pledge, DeLeo on Wednesday said after discussing the matter with House Ways and Means Chairman Brian Dempsey he would “be in a better position to answer that at that time.”