The House subcommittee with direct jurisdiction over the Safe Drinking Water Act will welcome a handful of new Republicans next year after several members lost reelection bids and a few others moved on to other panels.
The Environment and the Economy Subcommittee – a subpanel of the Energy and Commerce Committee – will continue to be chaired by Rep. John Shimkus of Illinois. Rep. Phil Gingrey of Georgia will join the subcommittee as vice chair – taking over for Rep. Tim Murphy (Penn.), who will remain a member of the panel.
The subcommittee’s other Republican members for the 113th Congress are Reps. Ralph Hall (Tex.), Ed Whitfield (Ken.), Joe Pitts (Penn.), Bob Latta (Oh.), Gregg Harper (Miss.), Bill Cassidy (La.), David McKinley (W.V.), Gus Bilirakis (Fla.), and Bill Johnson (Oh.). In addition, Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Fred Upton (Mich.) and vice chair Joe Barton (Tex.) have a seat on Environment and the Economy and every other E&C subpanel.
Among the subcommittee Republicans in the 112th Congress who will not be returning are Reps. Mary Bono Mack (Calif.), John Sullivan (Ok.), and Charlie Bass (N.H.) – each of whom lost their reelection bids. Reps. Cathy McMorris Rogers (Wash.) and Cory Gardner (Colo.) will remain in Congress, but were assigned seats on other E&C subcommittees and will not return to Environment and the Economy.
House Democrats are expected to announce their lineup of subcommittee members in the coming weeks.