Hoyer takes up post as top Dem on key approps subcommittee
After stepping down as Democratic House Majority leader, Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) will serve as ranking member on the Financial Services and General Government subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee. Brian Stukes / Getty Images
After decades in House leadership, Hoyer is taking up a supporting role on a congressional panel with a strong focus on government tech, management and the workforce.
After 35 years in House leadership, including two terms as majority leader, Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) is taking the top Democratic slot on a key appropriations subcommittee with a strong focus on acquisition, technology and the federal workforce.
The move comes as Democrats elevated a new generation of leaders with the start of the 118th Congress.
Hoyer was named ranking member of the Financial Services and General Government subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee for the 118th Congress. Hoyer replaces Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) who chaired the panel when Democrats controlled the House in the 117th Congress.
As a Maryland representative, Hoyer has been active in federal workforce issues throughout his career. Additionally, he was a key driver of the introduction and passage of legislation that created the Technology Modernization Fund, a no-year pot of money used to jumpstart needed tech refreshes at federal agencies.
Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.) will chair the subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over funding for the Treasury and the IRS as well as the General Services Administration, the Executive Office of the President, the Office of Management and Budget and other agencies that make and implement governmentwide policy.
Womack has long service on the Appropriations Committee and was active in calling for probes of the Department of Defense's now-scuttled JEDI cloud contract.
Oversight leadership
With the change of party control, House Oversight is also getting a new look. The panel was recently renamed as the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.
New chairman Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) has brought back the IT Subcommittee and added to it a focus on cybersecurity.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) is leading the subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology and Government Innovation. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) will serve as ranking member. Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) is chairing the subcommittee on Government Operations and the Federal Workforce. Rep. Kwesi Mfume (D-Md.) will serve as ranking member.
Additionally, controversial lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) will sit on the Government Operations subcommittee and the cyber/IT panel. Greene was stripped of her committee assignments by a full House vote in the last Congress because of her history of backing conspiracy theories and urging violence against public officials in social media posts.