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House Republicans this week announced the slate of lawmakers who will head up their committees next year, helping to shape and carry out the GOP’s agenda in a term in which the party will control both chambers of Congress and the White House.
A dozen of the House Republicans who currently chair the chamber’s 17 standing committees will return to their posts for the 119th Congress while five panels will see new faces at the helm. All of the chairs next session will be men, which ABC News reported will happen for the first time in two decades.
In a statement announcing the leaders, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., praised the new lineup, saying it was “imperative” that the conference be ready to move on implementing President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda.
“From securing our southern border, to unleashing American energy, to fighting to lower Bidenflation, and making our communities safe again, our Committee Chairs are ready to get to work fulfilling the American people’s mandate and enacting President Trump’s America-First agenda,” Scalise wrote. “House Republicans are heading into the 119th Congress prepared to address the issues most important to hardworking Americans and fight for meaningful legislative wins.”
Here are the lawmakers — a group Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., referred to as an “embarrassment of riches” in a news conference on Tuesday — who will lead the House committees:
Making up the list of new chairmen is Walberg for Education and the Workforce, replacing Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., who announced earlier this year that she would not seek another term atop the panel; Guthrie for Energy and Commerce in place of Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., who is leaving Congress; Hill for Financial Services, replacing Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., who is retiring; Babin for Science, Space and Technology, replacing Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Okla.; and Mast for Foreign Affairs in place of Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas.
Two of the incoming men are taking over their roles from women while a third, Mast, defeated a woman, Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., for the foreign policy role, Punchbowl News reported. Next year’s list also consists of solely white men with the exception of Mast, whose grandparents immigrated from Mexico, according to Punchbowl.
House Republicans’ top ranking leaders — Johnson, Scalise and Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn. — are also men. Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., last month was elected conference chair, the No. 4 spot among House Republicans. She replaces Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., whom Trump is nominating to be ambassador to the United Nations.
