U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) have reached an agreement on the balance of power in committees during this Congress and are expected to formally assign members to committees as soon as this week.
In a letter to his fellow Democrats published yesterday by Punchbowl News, Jeffries said the ratios would be a direct inverse of the last session of Congress in which Democrats held a similar size majority.
The Energy & Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over the 340B program, will have 29 Republicans and 23 Democrats. Each party will have three fewer seats than during the last Congress. Jeffries said no returning Democrat who served on E&C or any other plum committees (with one exception) during the last Congress would lose their seat. Ways and Means is the exception. Democrats lost one seat on the committee which has jurisdiction over taxes as well as the Medicare program.
E&C Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) announced the GOP members on Jan. 11, including nine new members. Not including the chair, they are:
- Michael Burgess (Texas)
- Bob Latta (Ohio)
- Brett Guthrie (Ky.)
- Morgan Griffith (Va.)
- Gus Bilrakis (Fla.)
- Bill Johnson (Ohio)
- Larry Bucshon (Ind.)
- Richard Hudson (N.C.)
- Tim Walberg (Mich,)
- Buddy Carter (Ga.)
- Jeff Duncan (S.C.)
- Gary Palmer (Ala.)
- Neal Dunn (Fla.)
- John Curtis (Utah)
- Debbie Lesko (Ariz.)
- Greg Pence (Ind.)
- Dan Crenshaw (Texas)
- John Joyce (Pa.)
- Kelly Armstrong (N.D.)
- Randy Weber (Texas)*
- Rick Allen (Ga.)*
- Troy Balderson (Ohio)*
- Russ Fulcher (Idaho)*
- August Pfluger (Texas)*
- Diana Harshbarger (Tenn.)*
- Mariannette Miller-Meeks (Iowa)*
- Kat Cammack (Fla.)*
- Jay Obernolte (Calif.)*
* New member
E&C Ranking Democrat Frank Pallone (N.J.) listed the party’s 23 committee members for this Congress on the committee website last week.
Not including Pallone, the E&C Democrats are:
- Anna Eshoo (Calif.)
- Diana DeGette (Colo.)
- Janice Shakowski (Ill.)
- Doris Matsui (Calif.)
- Kathy Castor (Fla.)
- John Sarbanes (Md.)
- Paul Tonko (N.Y.)
- Yvette Clarke (N.Y.)
- Tony Cardenas (Calif.)
- Raul Ruiz (Calif.)
- Scott Peters (Calif.)
- Debbie Dingell Mich.)
- Marc Veasey (Texas)
- Ann Kuster (N.H.)
- Robin Kelly (Ill.)
- Nanette Diaz Barragan (Calif.)
- Lisa Blunt Rochester (Del.)
- Darren Soto (Fla.)
- Annie Craig (Minn.)
- Kim Schrier (Wash.)
- Lori Trahan (Mass.)
- Lizzie Fletcher (Texas)
Assignments to the E&C health subcommittee and oversight and investigations subcommittee are expected soon. Republican-led hearings on 340B could be held by either or both subcommittees. Legislation to amend the 340B statute would originate in the health panel.
During the last session of Congress, McMorris Rodgers and now-retired Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) asked for a Government Accountability Office study of the 2022 law that let some hospitals keep or regain their 340B eligibility during the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the study, GAO is asking hospitals helped by the law if they give low-income uninsured patients a break on drug prices at their contract and in-house pharmacies. The study has been in progress since at least last August and could be released soon.
GOP E&C committee member Guthrie, who is expected to chair the health subcommittee, said in December he hopes Congress this session will do more to make hospital prices transparent. He specifically cited as an example the difference between what hospitals pay for 340B-acquired drugs and what they charge private payers for those drugs.
The E&C Republicans began this session of Congress with a burst of action on health care. They hosted a roundtable on the fentanyl crisis on Jan. 11 and plan to hold others. McMorris Rodgers has issued statements criticizing what she considers the FDA’s overly permissive use of abortion-inducing medication, called for the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency, raised concerns about a possible connection between COVID-19 vaccines and strokes, and as well as concerns over the country’s biosecurity effectiveness.
The Senate was on break from Jan. 4 through 22. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will chair the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee with jurisdiction over 340B. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who has raised significant concerns about hospital use of the 340B program, will be the HELP committee’s ranking Republican. The committee’s members had not yet been announced as of early this morning. Sanders has been staffing the committee’s health care team, according to Politico.
