It’s a man’s world atop committees in the House next year. But first, you should know:
- Senate GOP momentum is building for delaying a tax bill — but House Republicans aren’t on board yet.
- Donald Trump is promoting one of the FTC’s Republican commissioners to replace Lina Khan.
- Biden plans to kill Nippon Steel’s bid to buy US Steel, citing national security grounds.
Men Sweep Congress Chairmanships
House committee leadership will be an all-male club for the first time in almost a decade, Maeve Sheehey reports.
After the sole woman running for a competitive gavel — Rep. Ann Wagner (R-Mo.) — lost the Foreign Affairs chairmanship to Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.), there’s virtually no avenue for a Republican female committee leader selected by the GOP Steering Committee to make it to the top.
- “It’s unfortunate,” said Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.), an assistant whip and Ways and Means Committee member. “We’ve never been the party that was about checking boxes or identity politics, but the difference is we have women that are qualified to be chairs, and I don’t know why there wasn’t one who was able to become a chairperson of a committee.”
The downward trend for women follows another — women are set to lose congressional seats for the first time in 46 years, a dip driven by the fewer number of Republican women elected. It follows an election in which Donald Trump embraced masculine culture.
Republicans spent years criticizing diversity, equity, and inclusion — an umbrella term that includes programs aimed at bolstering women in leadership positions.
- “I don’t think people make decisions based upon a sexist outlook,” said Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.), who earlier this year called Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris a “DEI hire.”
Meritocracy: Some Republicans said the all-male lineup is simply how the races shook out this year under what they argue is their meritocratic system.
- “Part of the challenge for women on the Republican side is that there just are not, frankly, enough women in the institution itself,” said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. Read More
Read BGOV’s Congress Tracker for our breakdown of lawmakers’ agenda and the politics driving it.
Republicans Split on Tax Timeline
Incoming Senate leader John Thune’s plan to punt a tax bill until later next year is gaining steam while House Republicans worry about losing pressure inside their thin majority, Zach Cohen and Chris Cioffi report.
- “We have the absolute right strategy,” said Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), a Finance Committee member who will serve as whip during tax package consideration next year. “The incoming White House agrees, and we’re continuing to discuss it with our members.”
House leaders aren’t sold that two reconciliation bills will even be possible next year. They can only stand to lose a few members — a fraction compared to the votes they lost in 2017. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) said Tuesday House leadership is still deciding on a one- or two-bill strategy. He warned it’ll be challenging to pass multiple budget resolutions — the first step in the reconciliation process Republicans plan to use.
- “The president will be involved in all of this and helping us pass it, but our members will have angst about that,” Scalise said. “So one or two, there’s difficulty getting two of them passed — difficulty getting one of them passed. So each thing gets harder.”
Thune said Trump deputies Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will likely need more time to identify spending cuts to help offset tax changes, creating space for a new spending package early on to create political momentum.
- “It makes sense for us to move quickly on things we can move quickly,” Thune told reporters Tuesday. “But I think we can do both.” Read More
Trump Taps Ferguson for FTC Chair
President-elect Donald Trump picked Andrew Ferguson, a Republican on the Federal Trade Commission, to replace Lina Khan as chair. He also will nominate Mark Meador, a former staffer to Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), to a commissioner post at the competition and consumer protection agency.
New Chair: Ferguson, one of two Republicans on the five-member commission, joined the FTC in April. He has dissented from several of Khan’s rulemaking efforts, including a ban on non-compete clauses in employment contracts and rules to make it easier to cancel subscriptions. In recent FTC actions, Ferguson has taken an adversarial stance to perceived censorship by large tech companies.
- “Andrew has a proven record of standing up to Big Tech censorship, and protecting Freedom of Speech in our Great Country,” Trump said in a statement posted to his Truth Social network on Tuesday evening. “Andrew will be the most America First, and pro-innovation FTC Chair in our Country’s History.”
Under Khan, the FTC took an aggressive approach as the country’s leading consumer protection agency alongside the Justice Department’s antitrust division, causing friction with much of corporate America as it reviewed mergers and investigated alleged monopolistic practices.
A Republican-led FTC is likely to pull back from the agency’s rulemaking efforts, and Trump may be friendlier to mergers and acquisitions. However, the agency seems likely to keep up the aggressive pursuit of antitrust cases targeting tech giants, as cases against Google and Meta filed during the first Trump administration are now winding their way through the courts. Read More
Also Read: Trump to Nominate Mark Meador as an FTC Commissioner
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Law enforcement agencies are investigating unexplained drone sightings in northern New Jersey “but we just don’t know” if they pose a public threat, an FBI official told lawmakers.
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Trump’s Return Gives China Chance to Become a Weather Superpower
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GOP, Business Groups Try to Kill Lame-Duck NLRB Confirmations
Republicans and business groups are trying to spike a last-minute attempt to confirm two National Labor Relations Board members and preserve the board’s Democratic majority for another two years.
Foreign Pollution Fee to Boost Economy, Lower Emissions Unveiled
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Kroger’s $24.6 Billion Albertsons Deal Blocked by Judges
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