Nearly all congressional committee and subcommittee chairmen who oversee water-related issues were reelected to Congress in November, but Republican rules that limit members to six years at the helm of congressional committees will lead to new faces taking on some prominent leadership roles next year.
Perhaps most notably, Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe will no longer serve as the leading Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee after reaching his term limit. Louisiana Senator David Vitter is in line to replace him. Across the aisle, Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer of California will return as the panel’s chairman, and Maryland’s Ben Cardin appears a safe bet to keep ahold on the gavel of the Water and Wildlife Subcommittee.
No such changes will occur among the leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees drinking water policy in the lower chamber. Reps. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) will continue to serve as chairman and ranking Democrat, respectively, after voters sent each back to Washington.
Back in the Senate, Tom Carper (D-Del.) is expected to take over the gavel of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, following the retirement of current Chairman Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.). This will put Sen. Carper in a leading role on the development of cybersecurity legislation – an issue that could impact water systems and other critical infrastructure sectors. But Ranking Republican Susan Collins of Maine – a moderate who has worked with Democrats on a cyber bill – faces a GOP term limit and will be succeeded by the more conservative Tom Coburn of Oklahoma.
Changes are also in store for the House Homeland Security Committee, as current Chairman Peter King (R-N.Y.) will be term-limited out after six years. Rep. Mike McCaul of Texas will take his place. And new leadership is needed on the Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies Subcommittee after Chairman Dan Lungren of California narrowly lost his reelection bid. Rep. Lungren was a leading Republican voice on boosting critical infrastructure cybersecurity and maintaining the DHS CFATS program, so Rep. McCaul may have to pick up some of the slack. On the Democratic side, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) will return as the committee’s ranking member.
On the Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure panel, both Chairman Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio) and Ranking Democrat Tim Bishop of New York each won their respective races. But full committee chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) is term-limited out, so Republicans tapped Rep. Bill Shuster of Pennsylvania to replace him.
Democratic and Republican party leaders will make the final committee assignments for the 113th Congress in the coming weeks.