As a companion to this Senate chart, below is a table listing committee assignments for freshmen members of the House in the 111th Congress (data taken from here):
Representative
District
Party
Committee Assignments
Bright, Bobby
AL-02
(D)
Agriculture, Armed Services, Small Business
Griffith, Parker
AL-05
(D)
Science & Technology, Small Business, Transportation & Infrastructure
Kirkpatrick, Ann
AZ-01
(D)
Homeland Security, Small Business, Veterans' Affairs
McClintock, Tom
CA-04
(R)
Education & Labor, Natural Resources
Hunter, Duncan
CA-52
(R)
Armed Services, Education & Labor
Polis, Jared
CO-02
(D)
Rules, Education & Labor
Markey, Betsy
CO-04
(D)
Agriculture, Transportation & Infrastructure
Coffman, Mike
CO-06
(R)
Armed Services, Natural Resources, Small Business
Himes, Jim
CT-04
(D)
Financial Services, Homeland Security
Grayson, Alan
FL-08
(D)
Financial Services, Science & Technology
Posey, Bill
FL-15
(R)
Financial Services
Rooney, Thomas
FL-16
(R)
Judiciary, Armed Services
Kosmas, Suzanne
FL-24
(D)
Financial Services, Science & Technology
Minnick, Walt
ID-01
(D)
Agriculture, Financial Services
Halvorson, Deborah
IL-11
(D)
Agriculture, Small Business, Veterans' Affairs
Schock, Aaron
IL-18
(R)
Transportation & Infrastructure, Small Business, Oversight & Government Reform
Budget, Foreign Affairs, Oversight & Government Reform
Lummis, Cynthia
WY-AL
(R)
Agriculture, Budget, Natural Resources
None of these freshman critters were, of course, lucky enough to make it on to the Appropriations Committee. But when they do get there, there is just one thing they must remember:
(Credit to Crisitunity for uniting Shepard Fairey's two most iconic images under one geek banner.)
Below is a table listing the committee assignments for the freshmen Senators in the 111th Congress (taken from here):
Senator
Committee Assignments
Begich, Mark (D-AK)
Armed Services
Commerce, Science, and Transportation
Veterans' Affairs
Burris, Roland W. (D-IL)
Armed Services
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Veterans' Affairs
Hagan, Kay R. (D-NC)
Armed Services
Small Business and Entrepreneurship
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
Johanns, Mike (R-NE)
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
Commerce, Science, and Transportation
Veterans' Affairs
Indian Affairs
Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
Kaufman, Edward E. (D-DE)
Foreign Relations
Judiciary
Merkley, Jeff (D-OR)
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
Environment and Public Works
Budget
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
Risch, James E. (R-ID)
Energy and Natural Resources
Foreign Relations
Ethics
Joint Economic
Intelligence
Shaheen, Jeanne (D-NH)
Small Business and Entrepreneurship
Energy and Natural Resources
Foreign Relations
Udall, Mark (D-CO)
Armed Services
Aging
Energy and Natural Resources
Udall, Tom (D-NM)
Environment and Public Works
Commerce, Science, and Transportation
Rules and Administration
Indian Affairs
Warner, Mark R. (D-VA)
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
Budget
Commerce, Science, and Transportation
Rules and Administration
Note: Michael Bennet, Al Franken and Kirsten Gillibrand have not yet received any committee assignments.
While we don't cover the legislative process here at SSP (for that, I'll recommend you check out Kagro X's new blog, Congress Matters), committee assignments can actually have a big impact on the electoral process. The gig you land can have an impact on what sort of legislation you can pass, how much pork you can direct home, what sort of fundraising you have access to, and what kind of influence you wind up accruing in general.
They can, on occasion, also play a direct role on the campaign trail. In 2006, Conrad Burns argued that replacing him would hurt Montana's juice in the Senate. To help counter this, Harry Reid promised Jon Tester a seat on the powerful appropriations committee "as soon as possible." I have to admited I snorted a bit at that formulation (who knows when "as soon as possible" is?), though of course Republicans tried to paint Reid as a liar for not giving Tester the Aprops seat right away.
But Harry Reid kept his word and came through with the assignment a few weeks ago. It's good news for Tester as he starts thinking about his freshman re-election battle looming four years off in the horizon. And it's also helpful for other Dems, because it shows that these sort of promises actually mean something.
We'll bring you a House version of this chart soon.
