What to Know in Washington: House Departures Trigger Brain Drain

Scores of coveted committee seats and unfinished projects will open up in the next year as over 30 lawmakers exit the House, prompting a scramble for sought-after spots in the next Congress.

The retirement wave in the past few weeks has included a former speaker, long-serving members in vulnerable districts, and influential dealmakers. At least 18 seats in exclusive, influential committees — Appropriations, Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, Financial Services, and Rules — will open by 2025 when members forgo re-election, resign, or seek other office.

Maeve Sheehey/Bloomberg Government

All these departures, plus the possibility that control of the House could flip after next year’s election, adds to the uncertainty for members of Congress, staffers, and lobbyists who have a stake in the congressional agenda.

Several House members expressed concern that so many policy-focused lawmakers are departing. “They’re serious about doing a job and they’re realistic people,” said Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.), a member of the Ways and Means Committee. “That’s what we need in Washington. We don’t need more people that are here just to sell books and raise money online.”

The changing dynamic will leave newer members vying for seats on retiring lawmakers’ committees and could provide opportunities for them to elevate their policy portfolios.

The five exclusive committees in the House are the most competitive, and lawmakers on them need waivers to sit on other panels. Seats on Appropriations, which handles discretionary spending, and Ways and Means, which writes tax policy, are often fiercely contested. Read more from Maeve Sheehey, Kate Ackley, and Kellie Lunney.

BIDEN’S AGENDA

• The president gives remarks on infrastructure spending in Las Vegas shortly before 6 p.m. Washington time.
• Biden and First Lady Jill Biden attend a campaign reception in Santa Monica, California at 10:30 p.m.

CONGRESS’ SCHEDULE

• The House is back next week to vote on a Biden impeachment inquiry.
• Senators return Monday with plans to pass the annual defense policy bill later in the week.
• For a preview of next week’s agenda read BGOV’s Congress Tracker.

Also Happening on the Hill

THE RISK of a partial government shutdown on Jan. 20 is rising with parties still sparring over annual spending limits, Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) warned.

• At issue is a “side deal” agreed to as part of the June law to avert a breach of the nation’s debt limit that lets Congress use budget maneuvers to free up an additional $70 billion for federal programs through September.
• Republicans consider that deal an end-run around existing budget caps that should be disregarded. Murray warned if no deal is reached next week, lawmakers won’t have time to finalize detailed spending legislation. Read more.

STAGNATION in Congress on updating federal labor laws is undercutting a slew of recent wins by labor unions that raised wages and working conditions for hundreds of thousands of workers. Read more.

THE HOUSE’S special China committee wants an FBI briefing about a reported investigation into ByteDance. Lawmakers say the reports reaffirm concerns about China’s ability “to use TikTok to spy on Americans.”

REPS. MIKE WALTZ and JOHN GARAMENDI are asking the Government Accountability Office to investigate V-22 Osprey aircraft after eight crew members were killed in a crash off the coast of Japan. Read more.

People, Power, and Politics

Photographer: Ryan Collerd/Bloomberg

Hunter Biden arrives at federal court in Wilmington, Delaware, on Oct. 3.

HUNTER BIDEN faces nine counts of federal tax charges in Los Angeles. The indictment released yesterday comes just as House Republicans announced their plan to vote next week to formalize an impeachment inquiry into the president revolving around Hunter Biden’s overseas business dealings. Read more

RON DESANTIS’ presidential super PAC canceled a donor event this week due to a lack of interest from invitees, according to people familiar with the matter, the latest sign of the fresh tumult surrounding his 2024 run. Read more.

A PROFESSOR paid to testify in Donald Trump’s defense in a New York civil fraud trial heaped praise on the former president’s financial records for hours under oath while blasting as “absurd” the suit brought by the state attorney general. Read more.

REP. TOM SUOZZI was selected by New York Democrats to be their party’s nominee in the upcoming special election in Long Island to replace expelled Rep. George Santos, NBC News reports.

KENNETH CHESEBRO, the pro-Trump lawyer who helped devise the 2020 fake electors plot and pleaded guilty to the conspiracy in Georgia, is cooperating with at least four states who are looking into the scheme to avoid more criminal charges, CNN reports. Read more.

Global Affairs

THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY is working with US officials on a plan to run Gaza after the ongoing war is over.

• Speaking to Bloomberg in his West Bank office yesterday, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said his preferred outcome would be for Hamas to become a junior partner under the broader Palestine Liberation Organization, helping to build a new independent state that includes the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. Read more.

THE ARMY’S TOP WEAPONS BUYER said ammunition and equipment inventories aren’t being strained by supplying both Israel and Ukraine, although he warned that could change as the conflicts drag on. Read more.

THE US won’t rule out strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen, who have been blamed for their attacks on commercial ships, while it focuses now on sanctions and security at sea, according to a US official. Read more.

NORTH KOREA spurned all outreach from Biden’s administration, the top US official for Asia said, in a grim assessment about chances for progress on reining in the isolated country’s nuclear and missile programs. Read more.

THE EU is considering reopening a case at the World Trade Organization against the US over a Trump-era steel and aluminum dispute that saw the allies hit each other with tariffs on more than $10 billion of goods. Read more.

What Else We’re Watching

THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS’ monthly jobs report due out today is set to show the unemployment rate edged higher in November as the economy began to slip into a recession, according to Bloomberg Economics. Read more.

• Credit- and debit-card spending by Southern households rose by about 0.9% in the three months through October, almost double the pace of spending growth in the Midwest and at least quadruple the pace in the Northeast. The higher rate is buoyed by the South’s especially strong job market. Read more.

A BIDEN ADMINISTRATION move to seize some drug patents would likely be met with lawsuits challenging the scope of its authority to commandeer intellectual property. Read more.

FLORIDA, IOWA, and SOUTH DAKOTA — all of which have Republican governors figuring prominently in the 2024 presidential election — are turning down a combined $365 million set aside for them by the Inflation Reduction Act to design plans for reducing emissions and air pollution. A dozen cities, including in their own states, are more than happy to take the cash. Read more.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kayla Sharpe at ksharpe@bloombergindustry.com

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Giuseppe Macri at gmacri@bgov.com