Meet the Democrats poised to torment Trump

Donald Trump once said Rep. Jerrold Nadler — an old New York foe — should “lose 200 pounds.” The president claimed California Rep. Maxine Waters has a “Very low IQ.” And he berated Democratic Rep. “Liddle Adam Schiff,” another Californian, as “the leaking monster of no control.” Soon he may have to call them chairman or chairwoman. Fifty days out from a critical midterm election for Trump, these three Democrats may end up as full committee chairs next year if a “blue wave” wipes out the eight-year GOP majority on Nov. 6, which seems more and more likely. Democrats have vowed to shake things up in the House, and they will make life more difficult for Trump as he ramps up his own campaign for reelection in 2020. The potential Democratic chairmen in the next Congress are much different than their Republican counterparts, who are overwhelmingly white and male. There currently are only two GOP committee chairwomen. But the top Democrats on House panels include four women, and seven of the potential chairs are people of color. California, New York and other East Coast-West Coast states would see their lawmakers holding a number of gavels as well, a change from the Republican lineup. And these Democratic power players are older, like their party leadership. Waters is 80. Rep. Nita Lowey, the New York Democrat who is in line for the Appropriations Committee gavel, is 81. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, who would take over the Science, Space and Technology Committee, is 82. And Richard Neal, the Massachusetts Democrat in line for the gavel of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, turns 70 in February. Some of the other potential chairmen are well into their 70s. These veteran Democrats have served in the majority and minority, and they have a long list of bills they want to push, even if Trump and Senate Republicans can make sure those measures never becomes law. Most importantly, these Democrats say they want to conduct “vigorous oversight” of the Trump White House, something they claim has been non-existent in the Republican majority. Their questions cover a host of Trump scandals, including his tax returns; the Trump International Hotel; Russia, the 2016 election and Trump's relationship with Vladimir Putin; security clearances; immigration, family separation and the border wall; and the president's attacks on the media. And this isn’t even mentioning special counsel Robert Mueller’s findings, impeachment or the 25th Amendment, which some Democrats — and huge chunk of the party’s base — want to push if they’re in charge. Nita Lowey, Appropriations Committee In its 153-year history, the House Appropriations Committee has never had a woman in charge. Lowey wants to change that. The New York Democrat got her start in politics in the mid-1970s thanks to her neighbor, future New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, and she was first elected to Congress in 1988. Lowey is a close ally of Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.); Pelosi’s support helped Lowey rise to ranking member on Appropriations six years ago. Lowey joined the Democratic leadership in 2001, becoming the first woman to chair the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Lowey is liberal on domestic issues, but a foreign-policy moderate and big Israel supporter. She backed the 2002 Iraq War resolution, for instance. Lowey has strongly resisted GOP efforts to cut social spending while boosting the Pentagon budget. In the 1990s, Lowey appeared at a congressional hearing with Bert and Ernie of "Sesame Street" after Republican leaders had threatened to kill the Public Broadcasting Service. She also has defended the National Endowment for the Arts. As ranking member on the Appropriations panel, Lowey backs increased federal investments in biomedical research on diseases at the National Institutes of Health. Adam Smith, Armed Services Committee At 53, this lawmaker from Washington state is one of the younger potential Democratic committee chairmen. Smith was elected to Congress in 1996, when he was all of 31, so he’s an old Capitol Hill hand. Smith took over as ranking member on Armed Services following the Democratic wipeout in 2010, and he has continued the bipartisan work of the panel. Smith grew up in the Seattle-Tacoma area. His father, an airport worker, died when Smith was a teenager, and Smith’s family went on welfare. Smith loaded UPS trucks to help pay his way through college. While in law school at the University of Washington, Smith was elected to the Washington state Senate. Six years later, Smith won his first race for Congress. A moderate and member of the New Democrat Coalition, Smith has been hawkish on defense issues. Smith initially supported the Iraq War, although he later turned against President George W. Bush’s handling of the conflict. On Afghanistan, Smith backed President Barack Obama’s decision to pull U.S. troops out of that country, yet he had previously supported efforts to remain “engaged” in the conflict. Smith was in favor of the Obama-era Iran deal and requested funding for refugee resettlement in the United States. Smith gets financial backing from major defense contractors, as well as unions that represent defense-industry employees. Smith is being challenged from the left this cycle — as he was in 2016 — but is expected to easily win reelection in November. Frank Pallone, Energy and Commerce Committee The top Democrat on the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee beat out California Democrat Anna Eshoo for the post in 2014. Pallone, 66, is the son of a cop from North Jersey. Hyper-educated — Pallone has both a law degree and a master’s in international relations — the New Jersey Democrat has spent more than 35 years in politics. First elected to the Long Beach City Council in 1982, by the following year, Pallone had become a member of the New Jersey state Senate. In 1988, Pallone was elected to Congress. As chairman of the panel’s Health subcommittee during the 111th Congress, Pallone had a role in crafting Obamacare. More recently, he has co-authored legislation to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act and focused on fighting the opioid epidemic in New Jersey. A major focus for Pallone — and all House Democrats — will be trying to lower prescription drug prices. That’s a big employer back home in the Garden State, but Pallone and other Democrats have vowed to take action on this issue. Maxine Waters, Financial Services Committee Waters has become a liberal icon — and, in Trump’s eyes, a leader of the Democratic Party. That’s not a compliment for Trump. “Auntie Maxine” has screamed impeachment early and often throughout the Trump presidency, prompting his frequent attacks on her intelligence. Waters has long generated controversy and headlines. She gained national attention even before winning election to Congress in 1990 for her no-nonsense brand of politics in the California State Assembly, where she served as Democratic Caucus chair. As a member of Congress, Waters represents a large chunk of South Central Los Angeles. She wants to protect and strengthen the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and curb predatory lending practices that harm students and veterans. Waters faced serious ethics problems following the 2008 financial crisis. The California Democrat was accused of improperly intervening on behalf of a minority-owned bank for which her husband had served on the board of directors and held a large block of stock. Waters adamantly denied any wrongdoing and the case was eventually dismissed. Now, Waters is on the verge of becoming the first chairwoman in Financial Services Committee history. Bennie Thompson, Homeland Security Committee Thompson, 70, is the longest-serving black elected official in Mississippi and its House delegation’s lone Democrat. Thompson came to Congress in 1993 after winning a special election to succeed former Rep. Mike Espy (D-Miss.), who was appointed secretary of the Department of Agriculture by President Bill Clinton. Thompson is the only Democrat to chair the Homeland Security Committee; he led the panel in 2007 until becoming ranking member in 2011. As chairman again, Thompson would prioritize defense against election interference and oversight of the Department of Homeland Security. Thompson attended Tougaloo, a private historically black college, in Jackson. As a student, he championed civil rights through the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and organized voter registration drives for black voters in the Mississippi Delta. Thompson then became a teacher before jumping into politics. He was alderman and mayor of his hometown, Bolton, and Hinds County supervisor. Thompson is a vocal Trump critic, and he called on the president to resign last week following Trump’s false claim that nearly 3,000 people didn’t die in Puerto Rico as a result of Hurricane Maria. With the Homeland Security gavel in Thompson’s hand, the White House can expect extensive oversight over Trump’s border wall project, ICE and immigrant detention programs. Adam Schiff, House Intelligence Committee Schiff, 58, is the top Democrat on the Select Committee on Intelligence, which has conducted a fight-marred investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Schiff is a former federal prosecutor who studied political science at Stanford and attended Harvard Law School. He prosecuted the first FBI agent to be indicted for espionage. Schiff was first elected to Congress in 2000 after serving a four-year term in the California state Senate. He’s a leader on national security in Congress who opposes a unilateralist approach to foreign policy. Schiff supports America’s membership in multilateral groups like NATO and the United Nations. He also considers climate change a national security threat. Relations between Schiff and Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), the committee chairman, have broken down over Trump and Russia, plunging what was once a notably bipartisan committee into unending partisan squabbles. That’s unlikely to change if Schiff becomes chairman come January. Jerry Nadler, Judiciary Committee Nadler, 71, was elected to Congress in 1992 after serving 16 years in the New York State Assembly. He represents one of the nation’s most diverse districts, New York’s 10th Congressional District, which includes Manhattan’s Upper West Side, Hell’s Kitchen, SoHo, Wall Street and some neighborhoods in Brooklyn. Nadler has a long history opposing expanded police and executive-branch powers. He voted against the PATRIOT Act, and he has cosponsored legislation such as the End Racial Profiling Act to curb discriminatory treatment of minorities by law enforcement. He spoke out on the high-profile deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, two African-American men who were killed by police officers in 2014. Nadler was a strong backer of gay rights. Nadler talked openly about impeaching President George W. Bush but has been far more cautious about the issue since he took over as the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee last year following the resignation of longtime Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), who departed amid a sexual harassment scandal. Elijah Cummings, Oversight and Government Reform Committee The 67-year-old Cummings is likely to become a major irritant for Trump and White House officials in the event of a Democratic takeover of the House. Blunt and outspoken, the Maryland Democrat will be aggressive in investigating Trump administration scandals, just as Republicans were under President Barack Obama. The son of sharecroppers who left the South for Baltimore when he was young, Cummings attended Howard University, and then received a law degree from the University of Maryland. Cummings was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates in 1982, rising to speaker pro tem. He was first elected to Congress in a 1996 special election. Cummings flirted with a possible Senate run following the retirement of Democrat Barbara Mikulski in 2016, but he decided to stay in the House. Cummings says he has a “two-lane process” in mind if he becomes chairman. First, Cummings says he will focus on “Defend the democracy” issues such as voting rights, Trump’s cancellation of security clearances for his critics, the 2020 Census, the rights of federal employees, and the president’s treatment of the press. Secondly, Cummings wants to push reform proposals, including overhauling the U.S. Postal Service, as well as oversight for the drug industry. “I’m not looking for retribution,” Cummings insists. “I’m looking for the truth.” Jim McGovern, Rules Committee This committee is how the speaker controls the floor. And if Democrats win the House, McGovern will be the person wielding the gavel of this panel on Pelosi’s behalf. McGovern, 58, grew up in Worcester, Mass., where his parents owned a liquor store. He attended American University in Washington, and while in graduate school, began working for the Democratic Sen. George McGovern of South Dakota (no relation). Jim McGovern was later an aide to former Rep. Joe Moakley (D-Mass.), a one-time Rules Committee chairman. McGovern ran for Congress in 1994 and lost, but he won a House seat in 1996. McGovern got a seat on Rules thanks in part to Moakley’s help, and he has risen up the ranks of the panel. When Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) died earlier this year, McGovern became ranking Democrat on Rules. Peter DeFazio, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee A major infrastructure package is something that both parties say they want to enact. This Oregon Democrat believes he could deliver on that, although he also wants to conduct “serious oversight” of the Trump White House, especially the Trump International Hotel just blocks from the White House. The 71-year-old DeFazio is a charter member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. He supports higher taxes on the wealthy, and he’d like to crack down on Wall Street as well, which he sees as a major cause of the boom-and-bust economic cycle. He’s long opposed free-trade deals, which he believes hurt workers. Yet DeFazio supports a balanced-budget amendment, and voted against the 2009 economic stimulus bill because it didn’t go far enough in his view. DeFazio was born in Massachusetts but moved to Oregon for graduate school, became a bike mechanic, then landed a job on the staff of former Democratic Rep. Jim Weaver. When Weaver retired in 1986, DeFazio won his seat, and he’s been a fixture on Capitol Hill ever since. DeFazio said he’s eager to work with Trump on a major infrastructure package, but in addition, he wants some answers from the General Services Administration on Trump’s lease for the Old Post Office on Pennsylvania Ave. “I’ve never gotten satisfactory answers regarding the Trump Hotel from the GSA. They refused to provide documents to Democrats,” DeFazio said. “When I am chairman, they will provide the documents to me.” Richie Neal, Ways and Means Committee Neal has spent 25 years on the Ways and Means Committee out of his three decades in Congress, and the brass ring is finally in sight. What the Massachusetts lawmaker will be able to do there is a big question if Republicans still control the Senate and White House. Neal’s parents died when he was young, and Neal and his sisters received Social Security survivor benefit checks. Those checks helped pay for Neal to attend American International College in Springfield, Massachusetts. He later received a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Hartford. By the mid-1980s, Neal was mayor of Springfield, and he won a seat in Congress in 1988. Neal, 69, strongly opposed the Trump tax-cut package, and he’ll likely try to roll back some of that if he becomes chairman, although Neal will have a hard time doing so while Trump is in the Oval Office. The Massachusetts Democrat has been a moderate on trade, even though his party has moved hard left on the issue. He has pushed hard for legislation to block “inversions,” when U.S. companies incorporate in tax havens overseas to reduce their tax bill. Neal wants to expand the use of IRAs, and he’s advocated making health care and school tuition tax deductible for the middle class. source: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/18/democrats-committee-chairs-midterm-election-826301 #Headlines by: nmccaskill@politico.com (Nolan D. McCaskill)

Original Post: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/18/democrats-committee-chairs-midterm-election-826301