GOP Names House Energy and Commerce Chair

House Republicans are voting this week on committee leadership for the 119th Congress. Those decisions will have significant ramifications for Academy members and health-care policy.

The GOP Steering Committee, which selects the candidates, consists of House Republican leadership and many of its allies. They will choose their candidates for the entire GOP to vote on this week.

Most notable is the election of the chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee, currently held by Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), who is leaving Congress at the end of the year. On Monday, the GOP Steering Committee selected Representative Brett Guthrie (R-KY) to replace Representative McMorris Rodgers.

As chairperson of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Representative Guthrie will be an important figure in helping President-Elect Donald Trump accomplish his agenda. It is believed that the president-elect and the Republican Congress will use the reconciliation process, which bars the Senate filibuster and allows Congress to pass legislation by a simple majority vote in each chamber, to advance their early policy objectives.

In the past, Representative Guthrie said that he supported more transparency at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), but backed its role in basic research. “The NIH can and should remain a primary vessel for fundamental scientific research,” Guthrie said in 2022. “We can ultimately unleash the agency’s full potential without stifling future research if we effectively increase transparency on how these research dollars are spent.”

Guthrie has also said in the past that he supports the Medicare-approved private option, noting private insurers offer better care and value. He has suggested that Congress might have to step in if prior authorization requirements, which require approval for certain treatments, continue to annoy doctors and patients.