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Steering and Policy Committees of the United States House of Representatives

In the United States House of Representatives, the two major political parties maintain policy and steering committees. Their primary purpose is to assign fellow party members to other House committees, and they also advise party leaders on policy.

The House Democratic Caucus has a combined single steering and policy committee, while the House Republican Conference divides the duties between two groups: a policy committee and a steering committee.[1]

Chair: (CA-12)

Nancy Pelosi

Co-Chairs: (CA-15), Barbara Lee (CA-13), Cheri Bustos (IL-17)

Eric Swalwell

Caucus Co-Chairs, Policy and Communications: (CA-33), Debbie Dingell (MI-12), Matt Cartwright (PA-8), Joe Neguse (CO-2)

Ted Lieu

Caucus Leadership: (MD-5), Jim Clyburn (SC-6), Katherine Clark (MA-5), Hakeem Jeffries (NY-8), Pete Aguilar (CA-31), Sean Patrick Maloney (NY-18), Colin Allred (TX-32), Mondaire Jones (NY-17)

Steny Hoyer

Chief Deputy Whips: (IL-9), G. K. Butterfield (NC-1), Henry Cuellar (TX-28), Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18), Dan Kildee (MI-5), Stephanie Murphy (FL-7), Jimmy Panetta (CA-20), Terri Sewell (AL-7), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23), Peter Welch (VT-AL)

Jan Schakowsky

Regional Representatives: (CA-40), Anna Eshoo (CA-18), Betty McCollum (MN-4), Robin Kelly (IL-2), Susie Lee (NV-3), Raúl Grijalva (AZ-3), Steve Cohen (TN-9), Frederica Wilson (FL-24), Anthony Brown (MD-4), Joyce Beatty (OH-3), Paul Tonko (NY-20), Annie McLane Kuster (NH-2)

Lucille Roybal-Allard

Committee Chairs: (CT-3), John Yarmuth (KY-3), Frank Pallone (NJ-6), Maxine Waters (CA-43), Jim McGovern (MA-2), Richard Neal (MA-1)

Rosa DeLauro

Freshman Class Representative: (GA-5)

Nikema Williams

Appointed Members: (RI-1), Angie Craig (MN-2), Madeleine Dean (PA-4), Diana DeGette (CO-1), Suzan DelBene (WA-1), Mike Doyle (PA-18), Veronica Escobar (TX-16), Josh Harder (CA-10), Sara Jacobs (CA-53), Doris Matsui (CA-6), Bill Pascrell (NJ-9), Linda Sánchez (CA-38), Lauren Underwood (IL-14)

David Cicilline

Chair: (IN-6)

Luke Messer

Conference Leadership: (WI-1), Kevin McCarthy (CA-23), Steve Scalise (LA-1), Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA-5), Steve Stivers (OH-15), Doug Collins (GA-9), Jason Smith (MO-8), Patrick McHenry (NC-10)

Paul Ryan

Committee Leadership: (NJ-11), Steve Womack (AR-3), Greg Walden (OR-2), Pete Sessions (TX-32), Kevin Brady (TX-8)

Rodney Frelinghuysen

Sophomore and Freshman Class Leadership: (CA-45), Paul Mitchell (MI-10)

Mimi Walters

Regional Members: (NY-21), Brett Guthrie (KY-2), Vacant (Region 3), Austin Scott (GA-8), Gary Palmer (AL-6), Jackie Walorski (IN-2), Mike Gallagher (WI-8), Rick Crawford (AL-1), Markwayne Mullin (OK-2), Don Young (AK-AL), Mia Love (UT-4), Jenniffer González (PR-AL), Vacant (Texas Region I), Randy Weber (TX-14), John Rutherford (FL-4), Ed Royce (CA-39), Glenn Thompson (PA-5), Brad Wenstrup (OH-2)

Elise Stefanik

Sophomore and Freshman Class Members: (GA-3), John Katko (NY-24), Martha McSally (AZ-2)

Drew Ferguson

Committee Members: (TX-19), Chris Stewart (UT-2), Mike Coffman (CO-6), Dave Brat (VA-7), Glenn Grothman (WI-6), Morgan Griffith (VA-9), French Hill (AR-2), Joe Wilson (SC-2), Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-2), Raúl Labrador (ID-1), Bruce Westerman (AR-4), Jim Jordan (OH-4), Dennis Ross (FL-15), Steve Knight (CA-15), Jeff Denham (CA-10), Randy Hultgren (IL-14), Mike Bost (IL-12), Dave Schweikert (AZ-6)

Jodey Arrington

At-Large Members: (VA-10), Keith Rothfus (PA-12), Susan Brooks (IN-5), Dave Reichert (WA-8), Bruce Poliquin (ME-2), Tom Reed (NY-23)

Barbara Comstock

Gary Palmer currently chairs the Policy Committee. When the Republicans are in the majority, the chair of the House Republican Policy Committee ranks fifth, below the Speaker of the House, Majority Leader, Majority Whip, and the Republican Conference Chairman. When the Republicans are in the minority, the Policy Committee chair ranks fourth, behind the Minority Leader, Minority Whip and Conference Chairman.


Statutory members include the full conference leadership, the committee chairs or ranking members (depending on a majority or minority) of Appropriations, Budget, Energy, Rules, and Ways and Means, and the elected leaders of the sophomore and freshman classes. Appointed members include regional representatives, at-large members, members from the standing committees, and designated appointees by the sophomore (2) and freshman (1) class leaders.


Regional Representatives are restructured to reflect as closely as possible an equal number of Republican members from each region; the small state group is an additional region composed of states that have one or two Republican members.[7] As of the 116th Congress, the regions are:[8]


The members of the committee for the 115th Congress were:[9]


Policy Committee Chairs:

Conference Leadership: (CA-23), Steve Scalise (LA-1), Elise Stefanik (NY-21), Gary Palmer (AL-6), Mike Johnson (LA-4), Richard Hudson (NC-8), Drew Ferguson (GA-3), Tom Emmer (MN-6), Steve Stivers (OH-15), Don Young (AK-AL)

Kevin McCarthy

Regional Members: (NY-21), Mike Kelly (PA-16), Barry Loudermilk (GA-11), Mike Rogers (AL-3), Jim Banks (IN-3), Fred Upton (MI-6), Steve Womack (AR-3), Tom Cole (OK-4), Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-3), Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA-5), Devin Nunes (CA-22), Patrick McHenry (NC-10), Vern Buchanan (FL-16), David Joyce (OH-14), Kevin Brady (TX-8), John Carter (TX-31), and Kelly Armstrong (ND-AL) as small state representative.

Elise Stefanik

Junior Class Representatives: (SC-4), August Pfluger (TX-11)

William Timmons

Appointed Member: (AZ-8)

Debbie Lesko

Relevant Committee Leader: Rotating

For House Republicans, the steering committee is chaired by the party leader in the House, either the Speaker (if Republicans are in the majority) or the Minority (Floor) Leader (if Republicans are in the minority). Under rules adopted after the 1994 Republican Revolution, the House party leader (Speaker/Minority Leader) had five votes on the committee, the deputy leader (Majority Leader/Minority Whip) receives 2 votes, and all other members receive 1 vote for a total of 35 votes; a quorum requires 18 members. The current chairman of the Republican Steering Committee is Mike Johnson.


The Republican counterpart in the Senate is the Committee on Committees. Senate Republicans also operate a steering committee to discuss policy issues.[10]


The members of the committee for the 117th Congress (2021–2022) were:[8]


The House Republican Conference approved changes to the steering committee's structure on November 19, 2015. These changes include a reduction in the Speaker's weighted votes from five to four (while giving him the right to appoint a new at-large member) and phased membership adjustments. The six committee leaders that were all previously given standing membership (Appropriations, Budget, Energy and Commerce, Financial Services, Rules, and Ways and Means) were removed and immediately replaced by six at-large members. Additionally, any committee leader whose committee membership is under consideration by the Steering panel will sit on a rotating basis. The committee leaders' six vacant seats are to be elected by the whole Conference at-large by the end of 2015, and they will serve until the end of the 114th Congress (January 3, 2017). Following the 2016 general election for the next Congress, these at-large elected seats will be replaced by six additional regional representatives, with the new regions to be determined at that time.[11][12][13]

Standing committee (United States Congress)

Wilson, James Q., and John J Diiulio Jr., American Government, Eighth edition.

House Leadership Structure: Overview of Party Organization

https://web.archive.org/web/20061129223815/http://www.rules.house.gov/archives/RS20930.pdf