House Leaders Working on Commerce Committee Assignments
House Commerce Committee Democratic and GOP leaders told us they're working through the process of naming subcommittee heads and committee members in the opening days of the 116th Congress. House Commerce ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., said he's evaluating applications for ranking member slots, including for the House Communications and Digital Commerce subcommittees. Walden switched places with new House Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., when the new Congress formally convened Thursday.
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Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., “is interested” in the top GOP House Digital Commerce seat, a Capitol Hill official said. Three other House Republicans have been seen as potential contenders -- Brett Guthrie of Kentucky, and Adam Kinzinger and John Shimkus, both of Illinois (see 1810310025). McMorris Rodgers could have an edge because of her role during last Congress as House Republican Conference chairman, lobbyists said. Rep. Bob Latta, R-Ohio, House Digital Commerce chairman last Congress, indicated his interest in taking over as top Republican on House Communications (see 1811080040).
Pallone's decision to maintain the same jurisdictions for all House Commerce subcommittees as in the last session “makes it a little easier” to gauge prospective ranking members' interest, Walden said. “We don't know the ratios” for Democratic and Republican membership on the committee or subcommittees “and we can't do much of anything until they tell us that.” Walden anticipates he will need to fill “one or two” GOP membership vacancies on the full committee. Lobbyists anticipate House leaders will decide to maintain the same membership ratios. That would mean House Commerce would have 54 members -- 30 Democrats and 24 Republicans. Seven House Commerce GOP members vacated the committee at the end of the last Congress because they ran for higher office, lost re-election, retired or are expected to remain barred from all committees (see 1811280058).
House Democrats are expected to begin making committee assignments in the coming days, starting with senior members and then freshmen, said Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pa., considered a lock to become House Communications chairman. House Commerce will “probably reorganize” after Congress returns from its planned one-week Martin Luther King Jr. Day recess, and will then be “ready to start rolling.” If House Commerce's membership ratio from last Congress applies now, Democrats will need to appoint at least seven new members to the committee because Rep. Gene Green of Texas retired.
It's unlikely many House Democratic freshmen will be selected for House Commerce membership, if any, lobbyists said. Several Democrats are known to be in contention for seats, including Rep. Ted Lieu of California, Darren Soto of Florida and Marc Veasey of Texas, lobbyists said. It's less likely that Rep. Ro Khanna of California will win a seat, in part because of his dispute with Pallone over the committee's decision not to advance the Measuring the Economic Impact of Broadband Act last session, lobbyists said. The bill, which passed the Senate last month, would compel a Bureau of Economic Analysis assessment of effects of broadband deployment and adoption (see 1812140037).
Senate GOP leaders, meanwhile, confirmed Thursday they assigned freshman Sens. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Rick Scott of Florida for seats on the Senate Commerce Committee, as expected (see 1901030040). Republicans also placed Blackburn and two others on the Senate Judiciary Committee -- Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Joni Ernst of Iowa. Senate Democrats previously announced they selected freshman Sens. Jacky Rosen of Nevada and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona for Senate Commerce.