Jamie Shimek will remain clerk of the House Appropriations energy and water subcommittee, providing a modicum of stability for Washington nuke watchers scrambling to update their contacts list ahead of the transition to the Joe Biden administration.
Shimek joined the committee that writes each year’s first draft of the Department of Energy annual budget bill in the middle of the Donald Trump administration. She had previously worked for the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and as a Senate liaison for the Department of Energy. Before that, she was a senior policy advisor for Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.).
When Biden is sworn in Jan. 20, Democrats will seize control of the executive and legislative branches. They already had the House, but the Appropriations Committee had some turnover with ex-Rep. Nita Lowey’s (D-N.Y.) retirement. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) took over as chair, handily beating challengers in her own caucus that included Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), the committee’s longest tenured Democratic member and still the chair of the energy and water panel.
