Cathy McMorris Rodgers (5th District) was chosen yesterday by her conference as the ranking Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee for the 117th Congress. The committee has jurisdiction over a wide range of issues.
Read more about the her selection here.
Earlier today, Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut was chosen by the House Democrats to serve as the chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee when the new 117th Congress convenes in January. She beat out Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida. Marcy Kaptur, who was expected to run as well, dropped out at the last minute.
DeLauro won the vote of Democratic Steering and Policy Committee yesterday but she needed the approval of the full Democratic caucus. She is currently the chair of the Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee and takes over the full committee’s gavel from Nita Lowey of New York, who is retiring at the end of this Congress.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Capitol, Democrat Mark Kelly of Arizona was sworn in yesterday as the newest member of the Senate. He defeated Martha McSally in a special election, which enabled him to be sworn in this Congress. With Kelly, the Republican majority in the Senate now stands at 52 – 48. Two Senate elections are scheduled in Georgia for January 5.
Congress returns to Washington this week after its annual Thanksgiving break. It has a number of items to address on its collective plate in short order.
Before the current funding mechanism runs out at the end of next week, Congress must pass, and the president must sign, spending bills for FY2021. Before Congress went home for Thanksgiving last week, an agreement was reached between the leading Democratic and Republican appropriators on how much each of the 12 individual spending bills would receive for the fiscal year. Those details have not yet been made public. The deal was centered around a move to push a large omnibus package of bills for FY2021 rather than individual bills.
Although the current belief is that the president would sign the final omnibus package, that is not guaranteed. The last time President Trump signed such a bill, he warned that he would not sign another one in the future. The White House has not yet provided any assurances that the president will sign such a measure.
While progress was made before the Thanksgiving recess with respect to FY2021 spending, there was little movement in terms of trying to pass another COVID relief package. The House Democrats were insisting on a measure totaling more than $2 trillion, while the Senate Republicans were dug in on something much smaller, in the neighborhood of approximately $500 billion. A number of provisions currently in place are scheduled to expire at the end of the year and it remains to be seen whether the various parties can come to an agreement on new legislation.
Meanwhile, House Democrats are scheduled to pick a new Appropriations Committee chair for the 117th Congress, with current chair Nita Lowey (NY) retiring at the end of this year. Three women are competing to replace Lowey: Rosa DeLauro (CT), who chairs the Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee; March Kaptur (OH), who has the most seniority ofthe three; and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL), who is the biggest fundraiser of the three.
As the Biden administration enters the transition period, including the vetting of cabinet officials, the current Congress begins a lame-duck session. The Senate reconvened on Monday, November 9th, and the House will reconvene on Monday, November 16th. The 117th Congress is set to begin on January 3rd, 2021. President-elect Biden will take office at 12:00pm ET on January 20th, 2021.
To recap:
Looking to the next Congress:
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has won reelection and is favored to remain in his position. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has also won reelection and will seek another term as Speaker. Leader McConnell confirmed during that during the lame-duck session, the Senate will continue to work on COVID-19 relief and FY21 appropriations. Speaker Pelosi has announced a similar plan for the House. The National Defense Authorization Act also remains on the to-do list.
The current Continuing Resolution expires on December 11th, after which the Federal Government could shut down without another Continuing Resolution. Democrats and Republicans would have to come to a quick consensus on a variety of issues in order to wrap up FY21 appropriations before Biden takes office. Senate Republicans are expected to release their FY21 numbers in the next day or so.
For the 117th Congress, the members of the Washington delegation remain unchanged except for the addition of Congresswoman-elect Marilyn Strickland (D-WA-10th) replacing Congressman Heck, who will become Lieutenant Governor. Neither of the Washington Senators were up for reelection in 2020. Committee assignments for the 117th Congress should be finalized in January.
We will post relevant updates as they become available.
The race for the second Senate seat in Georgia is also headed to a runoff in January. Although the incumber David Perdue (R) led the challenger Jon Ossoff (D), neither reached the 50-percent threshold required to win the seat outright and avoid a runoff. The race, along with the other runoff in Georgia, is scheduled for January 5.
If the Democrats were to win both races in Georgia, that would result in a 50-50 split in the Senate, where the new Vice President would cast the tie-breaking votes.