With all but the upcoming Georgia elections behind us, the House and Senate have been busy deciding who will take over key leadership and committee positions for the 117th Congress.
Despite the fact that control of the Senate is still unclear due to the two Georgia runoff races, Democrat and Republican Senators have moved forward with filling their leadership positions—including reelecting Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) as their respective party leaders.
The Senate committee chairs and membership ratios are traditionally determined based on who has majority and by how much, so control of those positions are on hold until the winners of the Georgia races are decided. Republican caucus rules provide for term limits for chairs, which will lead to some reshuffling of the gavels. But by and large, we are expecting to see many familiar faces.
The House voted this week on their leadership and committee positions. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) retained the top leadership position within their parties.
Leadership and membership on many of the House committees with jurisdiction over the industry’s key priority issues will remain largely the same, but with over 66 new members of Congress and some retirements, there has been jockeying for new positions on some of these committees. Furthermore, because Democrats have lost seats, the ratios on the committees may change, which will result in changes to committee membership. NMHC is watching all of this very closely. But, because we have maintained long-standing relationships with many of the lawmakers, we are in an excellent position to advocate on behalf of the industry when important decisions are being made.
For a complete list of House Democratic leadership positions click here and for the complete list of House Republican leadership positions click here. Subcommittee chair and ranking positions are yet to be determined.
Use the drop downs below to learn more about which members of Congress will take over the gavels on the key committees important to the industry.
- The current Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was reelected by the Democratic Caucus but still needs to win with a simple majority (218 votes) of the House in January. Given the continuing Democratic majority in House, she is expected to remain in control of the gavel.
- Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-SC) and Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) were reelected to their current positions in Leadership. Joining them are Congresswoman Katherine Clarke (D-MA) as Assistant Speaker and Congressman Pete Aguilar (D-CA) as Caucus Vice-Chair.
- Republicans reelected their current leadership: Congressman Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as Minority Leader, Congressman Steve Scalise (R-LA) as Republican Whip and Congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-WY) as Conference Chair.
- Congresswoman Cheri Bustos (D-IL) did not seek reelection as DCCC Chair. Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY) prevailed against Congressman Tony Cardenas (D-CA) in a close caucus vote to lead the Democratic Campaign arm into the 2022 election cycle.
- Congressman Tom Emmer (R-MN) was reelected as NRCC Chair after a successful 2020 cycle.
- Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) will keep the gavel at the House Financial Services Committee, with jurisdiction over a large number of industry issues. She will again be joined by Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-NC) as the top Republican.
- Although subcommittee chairs won’t be decided until January, it’s important to note that with the primary loss of current Housing & Insurance Subcommittee Chairman Lacy Clay (D-MS) sets up a likely scenario with Congressman Emmanuel Cleaver (D-MS) assuming the Chairmanship, welcome news for many in the housing arena.
- We’ll see the return of both Chairman Richie Neal (D-MA) and Ranking Member Kevin Brady (R-TX) to the top of the Ways & Means Committee that oversees tax and finance issues, which have a big impact on NMHC members.
- Ranking Member Kay Granger (R-TX) will remain the top Republican, but the retiring Chair Nita Lowey (D-NY) will step down. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) will become the new Chair of the Committee after having defeated Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) for the position.
Speaker of the House:
Majority Leader, Whip, Assistant Speaker, Democratic Caucus Chair and Caucus Vice-Chair:
Minority Leader, Whip and Conference Chair:
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair and Vice Chair:
National Republican Congressional Committee:
House Financial Services Committee
House Ways & Means Committee
House Appropriations Committee
- Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) have both been reelected to serve as their respective party’s leader. The Georgia runoff race will determine the majority in the Senate, therefore determining which Senator will hold the title of Majority Leader. If the makeup of the Senate turns out to be 50-50, the leader of the Vice President’s party (in this case, Senator Schumer) would be recognized as Majority Leader.
- Senators John Thune (R-SD), John Barrasso (R-WY), Roy Blunt (R-MS) and Joni Ernst (R-IA) have been reelected to their positions of Whip, Conference Chair, Policy Committee Chair and Vice Chair of the Senate Republican Conference – respectively. Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) will replace Todd Young (R-IN) as National Republican Senatorial Committee.
- Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Patty Murray (D-WA) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) will stay in their current positions of Whip, Assistant Democratic Leader and Chair of the Policy and Communications Committee – respectively. Newly elected Senator Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) and freshman Senator Jackie Rosen (D-NV) are both in contention to lead the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee into the 2022 election cycle. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) were newly elected to Democratic leadership spots.
- If Republicans maintain control: Pat Toomey (R-PA) is expected to assume the Chair of the Committee.
- If Democrats take control: Sherrod Brown (D-OH), currently the top Democrat on the Committee, would take over as Committee Chair.
- If Republicans maintain control: Mike Crapo (R-ID), the current chair of Senate Banking, is expected to move over to chair the Finance Committee.
- If Democrats take control: Ron Wyden (D-OR), the top Democrat on the Committee, would take over as Chair.
- If Republicans maintain control: Richard Shelby (R-AL) is set to keep the gavel of the powerful Appropriations Committee.
- If Democrats take control: The current top Democrat, Patrick Leahy (D-VT), is expected to take on the Chairmanship.
Majority and Minority Leaders:
Additional Republican Leadership Positions
Additional Democratic Leadership Positions
Senate Banking Committee
Senate Finance Committee
Senate Appropriations Committee
