Republican Steering Committee meets to fill seats on top panels
Virginia Aabram
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The Republican Steering Committee will decide the members of several top House committees during a meeting and is expected to name conservatives to more seats than in recent years.
The Appropriations, Ways and Means, Financial Services, and Energy and Commerce committees, which are considered the most influential of the 20 House standing committees, will see their rosters begin to fill out Wednesday. During the tumultuous House speaker election, Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) told conservative holdouts aligned with the House Freedom Caucus that they would have more influence on committees in the 118th Congress in exchange for their backing.
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Exactly how many conservatives will be on each panel will become clear as the Steering Committee announces assignments.
Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) announced all of the committee chairs Tuesday. In almost all cases, the ranking Republican during the last session of Congress became the chairperson, the only difference being Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO) taking retiring Rep. Kevin Brady’s (R-TX) place as head of the Ways and Means Committee.
Republicans are reportedly still working with Democrats on the party ratios for each committee, though they will likely be simple reversals of the previous ratios since the GOP has the same number of seats as the Democrats did last session.
The Appropriations and Way and Means committees handle government spending and revenue-raising bills, respectively. The Financial Services Committee oversees the entire financial industry, including banking, lending, investing, and housing, while the Energy and Commerce Committee has broad jurisdiction over industries ranging from public health to oil.
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The GOP has also said it will keep several Democrats off committees in retaliation for Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ) being stripped of their committee assignments at the start of the last Congress. McCarthy wants Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) and Adam Schiff (D-CA) off the Intelligence Committee and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) off the Foreign Affairs Committee.