The House and Senate are both in recess this week, with the Senate returning to Washington on November 30 and the House returning on December 1. When the Senate returns, Senator-elect Mark Kelly (D-AZ) will be sworn-in to succeed outgoing Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ), and will serve out the remaining two years of the late Sen. John McCain’s six-year term, through 2022.
Next week, the 50-member House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee will vote to nominate candidates running for the three open House Committee Chairmanships for the 117th Congress: Reps. Debbie Wasserman Shultz (D-FL), Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), and Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) are running to be Appropriations Committee Chair; Reps. David Scott (D-GA) and Jim Costa (D-CA) are running to be Agriculture Committee Chair; and Reps. Joaquin Castro (D-TX), Brad Sherman (D-CA), and Greg Meeks (D-NY) are running to be Foreign Affairs Committee Chair. Once the Steering and Policy Committee votes to nominate a candidate to each Chairmanship, the entire House Democratic Caucus will hold an election in early December to formally approve each leadership role (with the full caucus typically backing the Steering and Policy Committee’s picks). Democrats will also select the new Chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, choosing between Reps. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY) and Tony Cárdenas (D-CA).
Likewise, the 30-member House Republican Steering Committee will make their selections to nominate new House Committee Ranking Members in the 117th Congress for the Natural Resources, Energy and Commerce, Agriculture, Armed Services, Veterans’ Affairs, Budget, and Small Business Committees. The entire House GOP Caucus will then vote to ratify the Steering Committee’s selections.
The Senate Republican Conference next month will also formally approve new Committee GOP leadership roles for the Agriculture, Finance, Energy and Natural Resources, Environment and Public Works, Banking, Budget, Judiciary, Health, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Indian Affairs, Small Business, and Intelligence Committees. The Senate Democratic Caucus will choose a new leadership role for the Indian Affairs Committee.
President-Elect Joe Biden will officially announce his first Cabinet appointments on Tuesday, including Tony Blinken as Secretary of State, Jake Sullivan as National Security Advisor, and Linda Thomas-Greenfield as Ambassador to the United Nations. Biden may also announce his picks for Defense Secretary and Treasury Secretary this week - Michèle Flournoy and Janet Yellen are reportedly the frontrunners for the two positions, respectively.
This week, 13 states are scheduled to certify their final congressional and presidential election results from November 3: Utah, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Maine, Kentucky, Ohio, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada, Minnesota, Indiana, Alaska, and Alabama.
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