The 116th Congress will officially elect leaders for its various committees this week. However, some of the anticipated committee chairs are already known via official announcements and media reports.
While House and Senate leadership had not scheduled votes at deadline for Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, both chambers are scheduled to reconvene Tuesday.
Below is a list of expected leaders of committees important to the Department of Energy. In cases where nobody has announced which lawmaker will fill a leadership position, we have listed the incumbent from the 115th Congress. Parties typically choose lawmakers with the most seniority on a committee for the leadership post.
House Appropriations Committee
The committee issues the first draft of the annual DOE budget bill, which includes legacy nuclear weapons cleanup, active nuclear weapons and nonproliferation programs, and any activities supporting construction of interim or permanent nuclear-waste repositories.
Chair: Rep. Nina Lowey (D-N.Y.).
Ranking member: Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas).
Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) was the ranking member on the House Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee in the 115th Congress, and appears to have the inside track on the gavel for the Democrat-controlled 116th. The subcommittee writes the annual DOE budget the full committee approves later.
Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) had the subcommittee gavel in the last session, but he’ll have to give up the most senior position among subcommittee Republicans due to House GOP rules that prohibit members from serving three consecutive terms in a committee leadership role.
Senate Appropriations Committee
Chair: Possibly Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.).
Ranking member: Possibly Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.).
Each senator is marked as a tentative here; both were nominated to serve on the committee by the leaders of their respective parties, and each must be formally elected to their leadership positions this week. Shelby and Reed are the incumbents for these positions.
On the Senate Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee, both Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) — respectively the chair and ranking member in the 115th — have told Morning Briefing they plan to remain in their posts for the 116th Congress.
House Energy and Commerce Committee
The committee has jurisdiction over the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear-waste repository — and, for that matter, any conceivable nuclear waste storage or disposal site. The committee is also the main House policy mover for legislation affecting legacy nuclear cleanup sites handled by the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management Office.
Chair: Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.).
Ranking member: Unknown. Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) was the chairman in the GOP-controlled 115th Congress.
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
Chair: Possibly Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).
Ranking member: Possibly Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.).
Both senators were assigned to these committees by their respective parties and need only the approval of their partisan colleagues to assume the leadership positions. Manchin is moving in on a committee leadership slot formerly occupied by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), a staunch supporter of DOE’s largest legacy weapons cleanup project, the Hanford Site in Washington state.
Cantwell is moving on to be ranking member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee.
House Armed Services Committee
This committee drafts the annual National Defense Authorization Act that covers DOE’s semiautomous National Nuclear Security Administration. The bill sets spending limits for appropriators, and also authorizes new programs, including new weapons programs.
Chair: Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.).
Ranking member: Rep. William McClellan “Mac” Thornberry (R-Texas).
Senate Armed Services Committee
Chair: Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.).
Ranking member: Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.).
