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Republican lawmakers are establishing new committees now that they have control of the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time in four years.
At the same time, some committees set up by Democrats when they ran the chamber are history, or they’re getting revamped.
Below are some key committees that are launching, along with panels that are going away or changing.
The House on Tuesday voted 365-65 in favor of establishing the new committee aimed at China and voted 221-211 for the panel on the “weaponization of the federal government.” Each body is due to have GOP and Democratic members.
New committees
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Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party: This new panel is expected to focus on issues such as reducing economic dependence on China
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theft of intellectual property, human rights violations and Chinese aggression toward Taiwan. Analysts have emphasized that there is bipartisan interest in finding ways to be tough on China. -
Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government: This new panel is tasked with probing how the Department of Justice and other agencies “collect information on or otherwise investigate American citizens,” including how the agencies work with the private sector and whether civil liberties have been violated, according to legislative text. It’s likely to investigate communications between Big Tech
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and the Biden administration, according to multiple published reports. Democratic critics have said the subcommittee could “inject extremist politics into our justice system” or called it “the MAGA Grievance Subcommittee.”
Committees that are ending
- Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol: The House panel that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol wrapped up its work last month by voting unanimously to refer criminal charges against former President Donald Trump to the Justice Department.
- Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress: This panel has focused on how to knock Congress itself back into shape, but it’s not expected to operate in 2023.
- Select Committee on the Climate Crisis: This panel isn’t expected to stay in business in the new year, after holding hearings on topics such as the healthcare risks linked to climate change. It also hosted prominent Swedish activist Greta Thunberg at a joint hearing.
- Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth: Lawmakers on this panel released a first-of-its-kind documentary film narrated by “Sex and the City” star Sarah Jessica Parker as they completed their work last month.
- A Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion for the House Financial Services Committee is likely to get scrapped, according to a recent Politico report.
Committees facing changes
- Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic: This panel is continuing in the new year, but a rules package approved on Tuesday has given it new areas of focus, such as COVID-19’s origins, the impact of school closures on American children and the implementation of vaccine mandates for the military and federal government employees.
- House Ethics Committee: The rules package approved on Tuesday will allow this panel to take complaints directly from the public, but also will impose changes on the Office of Congressional Ethics that could limit the OCE’s ability to investigate lawmakers, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Twenty-five watchdog groups criticized the changes affecting the OCE in a letter, saying: “Together these changes weaken OCE to the point where the office would struggle to perform its core function, dismantling one of the only ways members of Congress are held accountable for ethics violations.”
