UPDATED 1/8/25 8:14PM: To include confirmation of Boyle’s status on another committee and to note Democratic assignments for subcommittees.

Neal getting the band back together, (only some of the band pictured). Plaskett, far right, is on the comeback tour. (still via C-Span)

As the 119^th Congress and its House of Representatives settles in, the latter’s committees are beginning to take shape. Neither party changed leaders on the Committee. Most relevantly, Springfield Congressman Richard Neal will again be the panel’s top Democrat. On Tuesday, Democrats announced their once-and-again Ways & Means members weeks after the GOP had done so.

The Committee Minority announced that Pennsylvania Congressman Brendan Boyle, Virgin Islands Delegate Stacey Plaskett and New York Congressman Tom Suozzi would rejoin the panel. All three had been members before, but Neal said their returns would augment Democrats’ ability to counter what he called the GOP’s “reckless” and “chaotic” agenda.

“It is with the policy expertise and leadership of our returning members that we will stop Republican threats to our economic recovery in their tracks,” Neal said in a statement.

The Ways & Means Committee has a wide ambit. It oversees tax policy in the House and its purview covers trade and major federal programs like Social Security, Medicare and unemployment.

Boyle, Plaskett and Suozzi had been on the Committee as recently as the 117^th Congress, which took office in 2021. However, Democrats lost the House the following year, which redistributed the parties on committees.

Democrats had room to add members back this Congress, in part, due to retirements last year. Two Committee members, Earl Blumenauer and Dan Kildee, did not seek reelection in 2024. The minority had experiences shakeups during the term, too, due to a resignation and a death.

The Ways & Means Dems Reunion Tour Now Playing at the Longworth. (via Wikipedia)

To accommodate the GOP Majority after 2022, some Democrats left Ways & Means. Plaskett, who can vote on committees but not on the floor, lost her Committee seat. Other members retired that year, including Suozzi who unsuccessfully ran for governor of New York. (He returned to Congress last year to replace his successor, George Santos, whom the House booted after discovery of his frauds.)

After 2022, Boyle gave up his seat on the Committee to become the Budget Committee’s top Democrat. However, he had a waiver that let him retain a slot on Ways & Means. A spokesperson for Boyle and the Budget Committee confirmed he would remain ranking member on that panel while returning as a member of Ways & Means.

Subsequent to this article’s original publication, on Wednesday, Neal announced subcommittee assignments for Ways & Means Democrats.

Republicans announced their members nearly a month ago. Florida Rep Aaron Bean, Ohio Rep Max Miller, Texas Rep Nathaniel Moran and Indiana Rep Rudy Yakym joined Ways & Means. Republicans had room partly due to one retirement and an incumbent’s defeat.

The Republican chair, Jason Smith, promised to build upon Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, which principally benefit the wealthy. Smith also he would look at expanding rural health care, though he could have its hands full with tax cuts.

Neal indicated that his party’s lineup will prepare them to push back on Republicans’ plans.

“Our team is now whole, and ready to stand up for working families, fight billionaire giveaways, and protect the promise of Social Security and Medicare for the American people,” he said.

McGovern, waiting for Rules’s next Godot. (still via YouTube/Rules Committee)

Worcester Congressman James McGovern, who also represents part of Western Mass, also leads Democrats on a top House committee. McGovern chaired the Rules Committee during his party’s last majority and became ranking member afterward. However, Republicans have not selected a new chair nor revealed any changes to the Majority’s makeup on the Committee.

The 118^th Congress’s Rules Chair, Michael Burgess, retired last year. Burgess’s reign was itself an interregnum after Tom Cole left to chair Appropriations.

The Rules Committee writes rules for debate and governs what amendments receive votes. Often called the “Speaker’s Committee,” it writes rules for debate and amendments of legislation on the floor. Yet, House Speaker Mike Johnson had been running the chamber with his predecessor Kevin McCarthy’s Rules team and all its attendant side deals.

Johnson proposed and has passed the House’s rules for this Congress without choosing a Rules chair, however.

McGovern, a progressive and an institutionalist, had a great relationship with Cole. He seemingly got along with Burgess, too. Things may not go as swimmingly given which Republicans are under consideration to hold that Committee gavel.