Introduction to the New Members of the Ways and Means Committee

Ways and Means GOP Subcommittee Chairs Announced

On Jan. 27, House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-MO) announced the GOP rosters of the six subcommittees for the 118th Congress. Notably, the two other former contenders for committee chair, Reps. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) and Adrian Smith (R-NE), are reprising their roles as chairs of the Health and Trade subcommittees, respectively. Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) will also be returning to serve another term as chair of the Subcommittee on Tax – formerly referred to as the Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures.

Of the remaining three subcommittees, Rep. David Schwikert (R-AZ) will lead the Subcommittee on Oversight, a position that will likely place him at the epicenter of ongoing GOP efforts to limit or rescind new IRS funding that was included in the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Rep. Drew Ferguson (R-GA) will take over Schwikert’s former position as chair of the Subcommittee on Social Security, and the Subcommittee on Work and Welfare will be chaired by Rep. Darin LaHood (R-IL).

With this announcement, the 10 new committee Republican members have also received their subcommittee assignments for the upcoming session. Of note, all seven members joining Schwikert on the Subcommittee on Oversight are new to the committee. The full rosters for all six Ways and Means subcommittees can be found in the linked PDF at the end of this article and in the sidebar.

Earlier this week, Republicans announced that Thom Tillis (R-NC), Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) will be joining the Senate Finance Committee, the corresponding tax-writing committee in the upper chamber.

New Member Backgrounds and Potential Legislative Agendas

In the last month, Chair Smith began to offer insight into his tax-policy priorities for the 118th Congress (for Brownstein’s complete analysis, click here). However, the 10 new Republican members of the committee have various policy backgrounds and have generally not announced their formal tax objectives for the coming Congress.

The Brownstein Tax Policy Group has prepared short biographies for each Ways and Means Committee member, highlighting relevant background experiences, sponsored bills and public statements on several tax issues.

For a more information on the individual members, their backgrounds and their tax policy areas of interests click here or on the related PDF link in the sidebar.

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