House and Senate Leaders have made clear their intention to complete committee assignments for the 118th Congress before the end of January. By the end of next week, we should know who will serve on each of the House and Senate Committees. Several key committees are already taking shape, particularly in the House of Representatives.
In the Senate, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced committee assignments for all Democratic Senators, including Committee Chairs. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) will chair the Appropriations Committee, Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) will chair the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) will continue to chair the Finance Committee.
In the House, Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) welcomed Republican members of the newly renamed House Committee on Education and the Workforce, and Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA) announced the Democratic members of the same Committee.
Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) has released the list of Chairs for the Ways and Means Subcommittees. Representative Darin LaHood (R-IL) will chair the Subcommittee on Work and Welfare, previously known as Worker and Family Support. Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-MA) announced Ways and Means Democratic Committee and Subcommittee Membership as well; Representative Danny Davis (D-IL) is Ranking Member for the Subcommittee on Work and Welfare.
Chairwoman Kay Granger (R-TX) has also announced Subcommittee membership for the House Appropriations Committee; Representative Robert Aderholt (R-AL) will chair the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcommittee.
As the various committees continue to take shape and begin to conduct business, members of both the House and Senate have already started to work. More than 500 bills have been introduced in the past three weeks and Congress has a big task ahead of them: tackling the debt ceiling. Additionally, the new Appropriations leaders must negotiate top line numbers for the FY2024 Appropriations bills, though President Biden’s budget is not expected to be released until March this year, which will set back the timeline for Appropriations negotiations.
