House Standing Committee Chairs and
Ranking Minority Members: Rules Governing
Selection Procedures
Judy Schneider
Specialist on the Congress
October 7, 2014
Congressional Research Service
7-5700
www.crs.gov
RS21165
CRS Report for Congress
Pr
epared for Members and Committees of Congress
House Standing Committee Chairs and Ranking Minority Members
Summary
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.
Congressional Research Service
House Standing Committee Chairs and Ranking Minority Members
Contents
House Rules ..................................................................................................................................... 1
Republican Conference Procedures ................................................................................................. 1
Democratic Caucus Procedures ....................................................................................................... 3
Tables
Table 1. Republican Steering Committee ........................................................................................ 1
Table 2. Democratic Steering Committee ........................................................................................ 3
Contacts
Author Contact Information............................................................................................................. 5
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House Standing Committee Chairs and Ranking Minority Members
House Rules
House Rule X, clause 5(c)(2), adopted in 1995 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. In 2009, the Democratic
majority removed term limits from House rules. The rules adopted on January 3, 2013 reinstituted
term limits for all committee chairs, but continued the exemption for the Rules Committee chair.
Republican Conference Procedures
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 recent Congresses, 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 as of September 30, 2014.
Table 1. Republican Steering Committee
Member Serving in
Designated Representative
113th Congress
Comments
Speaker
John Boehner
Has 5 votes in Steering Committee
Majority leader
Kevin McCarthy
Has 2 votes
Minority whip
Steve Scalise
Chief Deputy whip
Patrick McHenry
Republican Conference chair
Cathy McMorris Rogers
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House Standing Committee Chairs and Ranking Minority Members
Member Serving in
Designated Representative
113th Congress
Comments
Republican Conference vice-chair
Lynn Jenkins
Republican Conference secretary
Virginia Foxx
Republican Policy chair
James Lankford
NRCC chair, former chair Tom
Cole
NRCC chair
Greg Walden
Appropriations Committee chair
Hal Rogers
Budget Committee chair
Paul Ryan
Energy and Commerce Committee
Fred Upton
chair
Financial Services Committee chair
Jeb Hensarling
Rules Committee chair
Pete Sessions
Ways and Means Committee chair
Dave Camp
Texas Representative
Lamar Smith
Region I
Doc Hastings
Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho,
Montana, Nevada, Utah, Arizona,
Colorado
Region II
Tom Latham
Wyoming, Missouri, New Mexico,
Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, South
Dakota
Region III
John Shimkus
Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky
Region IV
Mike Rogers
Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota,
North Dakota
Region V
Bill Shuster
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland
Region VI
Pat Tiberi
Ohio, New York
Region VII
Steve Womack
Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana.
Oklahoma
Region VIII
Lynn Westmoreland
South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama
Region IX
Bob Goodlatte
Virginia, North Carolina, West
Virginia
Region X
Ken Calvert
California, Arizona
Region XI
Jeff Miller
Florida, Mississippi
Smal State Representative
Cynthia Lummis
(Composed of delegations with one
or two members): Alaska, Oregon,
Nevada, Idaho, Utah, Montana,
Wyoming, New Mexico, North
Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, West
Virginia, Maryland, Nevada)
112th Class Representative
Joe Heck
113th Class Representative
Richard Hudson
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House Standing Committee Chairs and Ranking Minority Members
Democratic Caucus Procedures
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
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 as of September 30, 2014.
Table 2. Democratic Steering Committee
Designated Representative
Member Serving in the
113th Congress
Comments
Steering Committee chair
Nancy Pelosi
Steering Committee co-chair
Rosa DeLauro
Policy Committee co-chair
George Miller
Vice-chair/Chief Deputy whip
Jan Schakowsky
Vice-chair Henry
Cuellar
Democratic whip
Steny Hoyer
Assistant Democratic leader
James Clyburn
Democratic Caucus chair
Xavier Becerra
Democratic Caucus vice-chair
Joseph Crowley
DCCC chair
Steve Israel
Senior Chief Deputy whip
John Lewis
Chief Deputy whip
Terri A. Sewell
Chief Deputy whip
Diana DeGette
Chief Deputy whip
G.K. Butterfield
Chief Deputy whip
Ben Ray Lujan
Chief Deputy whip
Jim Matheson
Chief Deputy whip
Debbie Wasserman Schultz
Chief Deputy whip
Peter Welch
Region I
Susan Davis
Southern California: 21-53
Region II
Barabara Lee
Northern California: 1-20; Hawai ,
American Samoa, Guam, Alaska,
Marianas Islands
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House Standing Committee Chairs and Ranking Minority Members
Member Serving in the
Designated Representative
113th Congress
Comments
Region III
Betty McCol um
Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa,
North Dakota, South Dakota,
Nebraska
Region IV
Bobby Rush
Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri,
Oklahoma
Region V
Peter DeFazio
Colorado, Utah, Montana, Wyoming,
North Dakota, Oregon, Washington,
Nevada, Idaho
Region VI
Ruben Hinojosa
Texas, Arizona, New Mexico
Region VII
Cedric Richmond
Louisiana, Tennessee, Arkansas, North
Carolina, South Carolina
Region VIII
John Barrow
Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi,
Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico
Region IX
John Carney
Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia, D.C.,
Delaware
Region X
John Yarmouth
Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, West
Virginia
Region XI
Yvette Clarke
New York
Region XII
Niki Tsongas
Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, New Hampshire,
Vermont
Appropriations Committee ranking
Nita Lowey
Member
Budget Committee ranking Member
Chris Van Hol en
Energy and Commerce Committee
Henry Waxman
ranking Member
Financial Services Committee ranking Maxine Waters
Member
Rules Committee ranking Member
Louis Slaughter
Ways and Means Committee ranking Sander Levin
Member
Organization Study and Review
Karen Bass
(OSR) chair
Freshman Representative
Dan Kildee
Members appointed by Democratic
Judy Chu
leader
Mike Doyle
Tammy Duckworth
Keith Ellison
John Larson
Carolyn Maloney
Gwen Moore
Frank Pallone
Jared Polis
Tim Ryan
Jackie Speier
Nydia Velazquez
Tim Walz
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House Standing Committee Chairs and Ranking Minority Members
Author Contact Information
Judy Schneider
Specialist on the Congress
jschneider@crs.loc.gov, 7-8664
Congressional Research Service
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