Selecting New Leadership and Members

The 110th Congress convened on January 4th.  Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was elected Speaker of the House; Congressman John Boehner (R-OH) will serve as the House’s Minority Leader; Congressman Steny Hoyer (D-MD) will serve as Majority Leader.  In the Senate, Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) has been elected Majority Leader and Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will serve as Minority Leader.

Committees in the House and Senate have begun the process of determining membership and subcommittee leadership.

The House and Senate Appropriations Committees:

The House and Senate Appropriations Committees are charged with providing funding to discretionary federal programs every year.  Congressman David Obey (D-WI) will serve as chairman of the full House Appropriations Committee; Congressman Jerry Lewis (R-CA) will serve as the Committee’s ranking member.  New Democratic members named to the full House Appropriations include: Representatives Steve Israel (NY), Barbara Lee (CA), Tom Udall (NM), Adam Schiff (CA), Michael Honda (CA), Betty McCollum (MN), C.A. “Dutch” Ruppersberger (MD), Timothy Ryan (OH), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL), Ben Chandler (KY), and Ciro Rodriguez (TX).  No new Republican members were assigned to serve on the House Appropriations Committee.

Congressman Obey will also chair the House Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations (Labor-HHS) Subcommittee; it has been reported that Congressman James Walsh (R-NY) is expected to serve as ranking member of the House Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee.  New Democratic members of the House Labor-HHS Subcommittee are: Representatives Barbara Lee (CA), Tom Udall (NM), Michael Honda (CA), Betty McCollum (MN), and Timothy Ryan (OH). House Republicans have not yet released their list of Subcommittee assignments.

Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) will serve as chair of the full Senate Appropriations Committee; Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS) will serve as the full Committee’s ranking member.  New members of the Senate Appropriations Committee include: Senators Jack Reed (D-RI), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Ben Nelson (D-NE), and Lamar Alexander (R-TN).  Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) will chair the Senate Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee and Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) will serve as the Subcommittee’s ranking member.  Senators Reed and Lautenberg were also selected to serve as new members of the Senate Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee.

Additional Committees with Jurisdiction over Programs Serving People with Addiction Histories, HIV/AIDS and Criminal Records:

The House Energy and Commerce Committee

The Energy and Commerce Committee in the House and the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee in the Senate have jurisdiction over a number of federal agencies and programs serving people with alcohol and drug addiction histories, HIV/AIDS, and criminal records, including the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the Ryan White CARE Act. 

Congressman John Dingell (D-MI) will chair the full House Energy and Commerce Committee; Congressman Joe Barton (R-TX) will serve as the full Committee’s ranking member.  New Democratic members named to the House Energy and Commerce Committee include:  Representatives Darlene Hooley (OR), Jane Harman (CA), Anthony Weiner (NY), Jim Matheson (UT), G.K. Butterfield (NC), Charlie Melancon (LA), John Barrow (GA) and Baron Hill (IN).  Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL), who served on the House Energy and Commerce Committee in previous Congressional sessions, will rejoin the Committee during the 110th Congress.

It has been reported that Congressman Frank Pallone (D-NJ) is expected to chair the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, and that Congressman Nathan Deal (R-GA) will serve as that Subcommittee’s ranking member.   Members new to the Subcommittee are expected to include: Representatives Eliot Engel (D-NY), Janice Schakowsky (D-IL), Hilda Solis (D-CA), Mike Ross (D-AR), Darlene Hooley (D-OR), Anthony Weiner (D-NY), Jim Matheson (D-UT),  John Sullivan (R-OK), and Tim Murphy (R-PA).

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee

In addition to having jurisdiction over reauthorization of SAMHSA, the Senate HELP Committee also has oversight over a number of education and workforce programs including the Higher Education Act and Workforce Investment Act programs.  Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) will chair the full Senate HELP Committee and Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY) will serve as the Committee’s ranking member.  New members of the Senate HELP Committee will include: Senators Barack Obama (D-IL), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Wayne Allard (R-CO), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Tom Coburn (R-OK).  Subcommittee lists have not yet been released.

The House Education and Labor Committee

Formerly the House Education and the Workforce Committee, the Education and Labor Committee also has jurisdiction in the House over a number of programs including the Higher Education Act and Workforce Investment Act programs.  Congressman George Miller (D-CA) will serve as chairman of the full Committee, with Congressman Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-CA) serving as ranking member.  New members of the full Committee include: Representatives Linda Sanchez (D-CA), John Sarbanes (D-MD), Joe Sestak (D-PA), Dave Loebsack (D-IA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Jason Altmire (D-PA), John Yarmuth (D-KY), Phil Hare (D-IL), Yvette Clarke (D-NY), Joe Courtney (D-CT), Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH),  Peter Hoekstra (R-MI), Rob Bishop (R-UT), David Davis (R-TN), and Timothy Walberg (R-MI).  Subcommittee assignments have not yet been released.

The House and Senate Judiciary Committees:

Congressman John Conyers (D-MI) will chair the full House Judiciary Committee; Congressman Lamar Smith (R-TX) will serve as the full Committee’s ranking member.  Members new to the House Judiciary Committee include: Representatives Steven Cohen, (D-TN), Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), Brad Sherman (D-CA), Keith Ellison (D-MN), Hank Johnson (D-GA), and Jim Jordan (R-OH).  Subcommittee assignments have not yet been released.

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) will chair the full Senate Judiciary Committee and Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) will serve as ranking member.  New members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are: Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).  Subcommittee membership has not yet been released.

Additional information about these Committees can be found at the following websites:

 House Appropriations Committee, http://appropriations.house.gov/
 Senate Appropriations Committee, http://appropriations.senate.gov/
 House Energy and Commerce Committee, http://energycommerce.house.gov/
 Senate HELP Committee, http://help.senate.gov/
 House Education and Labor Committee, http://edworkforce.house.gov/
 House Judiciary Committee, http://judiciary.house.gov/
 Senate Judiciary Committee, http://judiciary.senate.gov/index.cfm

The new chairmen of the Senate and House Appropriations Committees for the 110th Congress, Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) and Congressman David Obey (D-WI), recently announced their plans to finish the FY 2007 funding process.  Chairmen Byrd and Obey have announced their intention to do a year-long joint resolution that will fund most of the remaining federal programs at FY 2006 levels.  Before adjourning the 109th Congress, Congress approved a ten-week Continuing Resolution (CR) that is funding programs in the nine spending bills that have not yet been approved for the 2007 fiscal year.  The CR includes programs in the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (Labor-HHS) bill that funds alcohol and drug prevention, treatment, education and research programs.  The CR is set to expire on February 15th.

Although Chairmen Byrd and Obey indicated that they would make adjustments in funding for certain high-priority programs, such as education and veterans health care programs under this year-long resolution, it is expected that most programs’ funding will remain largely unchanged from FY 2006 levels.  In addition, Chairmen Byrd and Obey announced that the joint funding resolution will not contain any Congressional earmarks. 

The FY 2008 budget and appropriations process is expected to begin when the President releases his annual budget on February 5th.  Additional information about the FY 2007 funding process can be found at:  http://thomas.loc.gov/