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Pr
epared for Members and Committees of Congress
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House rules, Republican Conference rules, and Democratic Caucus rules each detail aspects of
the procedures followed in selecting standing committee chairs and ranking minority members.
This report summarizes those procedures and lists membership on each party’s steering
committee. The report will be updated if rules or procedures change.
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House Rule X, clause 5(c)(2), adopted in 1995 and effective immediately, limited committee (and
subcommittee) chairs to three-terms of consecutive service. Service for less than a full session in
a Congress is disregarded. A rules change adopted on January 7, 2003, pursuant to H.Res. 5,
exempted the Intelligence Committee chair from the limit. A rules change adopted on January 4,
2005, pursuant to H.Res. 5, exempted the Rules Committee chair from the limit.
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Republican Conference rules delineate procedures for the selection of standing committee chairs
and ranking minority members. The Speaker, with the Republicans in the majority, has the
authority to nominate the chairs of the House Administration Committee and Rules Committee. In
the minority, this is performed by the minority leader. He names the ranking minority members
on these committees. The Speaker’s or minority leader’s nominations for these two positions are
submitted directly to the full Republican Conference for ratification. If the conference rejects the
leader’s nominee, the Speaker or minority leader has the authority to submit another name to the
conference.
All other standing committee chairs or ranking minority members are nominated by the
Republican Steering Committee and ratified by the full Republican Conference. Pursuant to
conference rules, the Member nominated to be chair or ranking minority member does not need to
be the Member with the longest continuous service on the committee. In the 111th Congress, the
Steering Committee “interviewed” prospective candidates for ranking slots. Some of the new
ranking members were the most senior members of the committee, others were not.
The Steering Committee is composed of party leaders, selected committee leaders, class leaders,
and regional representatives. The Steering Committee is reconstituted each Congress. Regions are
restructured to reflect as closely as possible an equal number of Republican Members from each
region. Each region elects its Steering Committee member. If Steering Committee members are
elected from states that have four or more Republican members, a “small state” group is triggered
to also elect a member to the Steering Committee; the small state group is composed of states that
have three or fewer Republican members. Table 1 depicts the membership of the Republican
Steering Committee for the 111th Congress.
Table 1. Republican Steering Commit ee
Designated Representative
Member Serving in 111th
Congress
Comments
Republican Leader
John Boehner
Has 5 votes in Steering Committee
Minority Whip
Eric Cantor
Has 2 votes
Chief Deputy Whip
Kevin McCarthy
Republican Conference Chair
Mike Pence
Republican Conference Vice Chair
Cathy McMorris-Rogers
Republican Conference Secretary
John Carter
Republican Policy Chair
Thad McCotter
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Designated Representative
Member Serving in 111th
Congress
Comments
NRCC Chair,110th Congress
Tom Cole
NRCC Chair, 111th Congress
Pete Sessions
Appropriations Committee ranking
Jerry Lewis
member
Energy and Commerce Committee
Joe Barton
ranking member
Financial Services Committee ranking
member
Doc Hastings
Rules Committee ranking member
David Dreier
Ways and Means Committee ranking Dave Camp
member
California Representative
Ken Calvert
Texas Representative
Lamar Smith
Florida Representative
Jeff Miller
Region I Representative
Doc Hastings
Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Idaho,
Montana, Nevada, Utah, Arizona,
New Mexico, Wyoming, Colorado
Region II Representative
Lee Terry
Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska,
Wisconsin, Minnesota
Region III Representative
John Shimkus
Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas
Region IV Representative
Mike Rogers
Michigan, Indiana, Tennessee
Region V Representative
John McHugh
Deleware, New York, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania
Region VI Representative
Steve LaTourette
Maryland, Ohio, Virginia
Region VII Representative
Hal Rogers
Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana,
Mississippi, West Virginia
Region VIII Representative
John Linder
Georgia, North Carolina, South
Carolina
Small State Representative
Mike Simpson
Alaska, Arkansas,Colorado,
Delaware, Idaho, Maryland,
Mississippi, Montana, Nevada,
Oregon, Utah, West Virginia,
Wyoming
110th Class Representative
Adrian Smith
111th Class Representative
Gregg Harper
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Democratic Caucus rules address selecting committee chairs and ranking minority members. The
Democratic leader nominates a chair/ranking member for the Committees on Rules and House
Administration, who must be approved by the entire Democratic Caucus. The Budget Committee
chair/ranking member is selected from among members choosing to run for the position. Other
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chair/ranking member nominations are made by the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee
and voted on by the entire Democratic Caucus. In making selections, the Steering Committee
considers, pursuant to caucus rules, “merit, length of service on the committee and degree of
commitment to the Democratic agenda of the nominee, and the diversity of the Caucus.” The
Steering Committee is reconstituted each Congress, and regions can be restructured to reflect
equal Democratic representation among regions. The number of appointments made by the party
leader can also change. Table 2 depicts the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee as
constituted at the beginning of the 111h Congress.
Table 2. Democratic Steering Committee
Designated Representative
Member Serving in the 111h
Congress
Comments
Steering Committee Chair
Nancy Pelosi
Steering Committee Co-Chair
Rosa DeLauro
Policy Committee Co-Chair
George Miller
Vice-Chair Marion
Berry
Vice-Chair Hilda
Solis
Whip James
Clyburn
Democratic Caucus Chair
John Larson
Democratic Caucus Vice-Chair
Xavier Becerra
DCCC Chair
Chris Van Hollen
Senior Chief Deputy Whip
John Lewis
Chief Deputy Whip
Joe Crowley
Chief Deputy Whip
Diana DeGette
Chief Deputy Whip
G.K. Butterfield
Chief Deputy Whip
Ed Pastor
Chief Deputy Whip
John Tanner
Chief Deputy Whip
Maxine Waters
Chief Deputy Whip
Debbie Wasserman Schultz
Chief Deputy Whip
Jan Schakowsky
Region I
Linda Sherman
Southern California: 21-53
Region II
Jerry McNerney
Northern California: 1-20; Hawaii,
American Samoa, Guam, Alaska,
Marianas Islands
Region III
Tammy Baldwin
Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin,
Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota,
Nebraska
Region IV
Jan Schakowsky
Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri,
Oklahoma
Region V
Rick Larsen
Colorado, Utah, Montana, Wyoming,
North Dakota, Oregon, Washington,
Nevada, Idaho
Region VI
Eddie Bernice Johnson
Texas, Arizona, New Mexico
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Designated Representative
Member Serving in the 111h
Congress
Comments
Region VII
Bob Etheridge
Louisiana, Tennessee, Arkansas,
North Carolina, South Carolina
Region VIII
Ron Klein
Georgia, Florida, Alabama,
Mississippi, Virgin Islands, Puerto
Rico
Region IX
James Moran
Maryland, New Jersey, West Virginia,
Virginia, D.C., Delaware
Region X
Robert Brady
Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky
Region XI
Jerrold Nadler
New York
Region XII
John Tierney
Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, New Hampshire,
Vermont
Appropriations Committee Chair
David Obey
Budget Committee Chair
John Spratt
Energy and Commerce Committee
Henry Waxman
Chair
Financial Services Committee Chair
Barney Frank
Rules Committee Chair
Louis Slaughter
Ways and Means Committee Chair
Charles Rangel
Organization Study and Review
Mike Capuano
(OSR) Chair
Freshman Representative
Jared Polis
Members appointed by Democratic
Dennis Cardoza
Leader
Kathy Castor
Jerry Costello
Artur Davis
Lloyd Doggett
Debbie Halvorson
Rush Holt
Marcy Kaptur
Zoe Lofgren
Doris Matsui
Kendrick Meek
Collin Peterson
Tim Ryan
Nydia Velazquez
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Judy Schneider
Specialist on the Congress
jschneider@crs.loc.gov, 7-8664
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