House Republicans named the members of their steering committee Wednesday, locking in a new group that holds power to set most committee assignments and committee chairs, significantly influencing how the conference as a whole operates. The 30 person body includes regional representation and members of leadership — whose votes have more weight than other members. But the rank-and-file members are usually allies of leadership, which helps concentrate the power of committee slots to leadership.

Speaker Mike Johnson’s vote counts as four and Majority Leader Steve Scalise’s counts as two, with the rest of leadership and rank and file members weighted equally at one vote. Louisiana, in particular, is going to be a powerful voting bloc for members.

Rep. Julia Letlow (R-La.) beat out Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.) for a steering seat. Hill is seeking the Financial Services Committee gavel. 

Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) clinched the steering seat for his region, despite a challenge from Rep. Diana Harshbarger (R-Tenn.). 

Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) defeated House Armed Services Chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) for their regional seat. 

Rep.-elect Brian Jack (R-Ga.) is the freshman class representative to the group, as was determined last week, and Max Miller represents the sophomore class. Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), the dean of the House, also serves on the steering committee.
Under House rules, several committee chairs are named directly by the speaker, rather than by the steering committee. Johnson will have control of populating Rules, House Administration, Ethics and any select or joint committees, including the House Intelligence Committee.

Leadership: 

Speaker Mike Johnson
Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.)
Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.)
GOP Conference Chair Lisa McClain (R-Mich.)
NRCC Chair Richard Hudson (R-N.C.)
Kevin Hern (R-Okla.)
Blake Moore (R-Utah)
Erin Houchin (R-Ind.)
Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.)

Rank and file: 

Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.)
Mike Kelly (R-Pa.)
Dave Joyce (R-Ohio)
Rob Wittman (R-Va.)
David Rouzer (R-N.C.)
Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.)
Jason Smith (R-Mo.)
Julia Letlow (R-La.)
Rudy Yakym (R-Ind.)
Jack Bergman (R-Mich.)
Bryan Steil (R-Wis.)
Tom Cole (R-Okla.)
Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.)
Burgess Owens (R-Utah)
Ken Calvert (R-Calif.)
Pat Fallon (R-Texas)
Jodey Arrington (R-Texas)
Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.)
Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.)
Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.)

Tenure-based slots:

Brian Jack (R-Ga.)
Max Miller (R-Ohio)
Hal Rogers (R-Ky.)

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) said Wednesday that Speaker Mike Johnson has blocked her proposal to allow new mothers to vote by proxy for several months from being included in the rules package for the next Congress.

“Today, after speaking with @SpeakerJohnson about this for months, I was told, He will not support allowing female members to vote if they give birth,” she wrote in a thread on X. “Among other things, this is something that I fundamentally disagree with him on.”

Johnson’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but he has backup from other corners of the Republican conference.

“I don’t give a crap who you are or whether you just had a baby in the last six weeks,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said on “CR Podcast with Daniel Horowitz.” “It is unconstitutional to proxy vote.”

Luna has been leading the charge throughout the year, beginning her bipartisan push in January to allow new moms to vote remotely in order to spend more time with their newborns.

Proxy voting was used in the then-Democratic controlled House during the pandemic, but faced legal challenges and staunch opposition from Republicans who decried it as unconstitutional.

Grace Chong, chief financial officer and chief operating officer for MAGA podcaster Steve Bannon’s “War Room,” called Republicans who missed the vote to confirm a judicial nominee Wednesday “mouth breathing imbeciles!!!” on X — a clapback to JD Vance’s recent pointed remarks at her.

Chong was commenting directly on the Senate confirming Rebecca Pennell as District Court Judge for the Eastern District of Washington by a vote of 50-48 on Wednesday. If GOP Sens. Mike Braun and Ted Cruz had been present and voted no, their two votes would have led to a tie that Vice President Kamala Harris would have to break.

Chong reused the colorful phrase “mouth breathing imbeciles” just one day after JD Vance used it against her when she criticized him for missing a previous Senate vote to confirm judicial nominees on Monday night.

She has been active on X, pushing Republicans to block all of President Joe Biden’s judicial picks for the federal bench after Trump posted on Truth Social that Republicans need to “Show Up and Hold the Line” to prevent the Democratic majority in the Senate from confirming any more “Radical Left Judges” before Inauguration Day.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell declared Tuesday that Republicans are plotting to use the Congressional Review Act to kill Biden administration rules.

The Kentucky Republican, who’s stepping down from his leadership post at the end of the year, said the incoming Senate majority was preparing to use the CRA “to rein in Washington bureaucrats’ expensive interpretation of the powers over working Americans.”

“Under the Biden administration, Democrats have worked relentlessly to resurrect the Obama administration’s regulatory regime,” he said, “from student loan socialism to job-killing energy policies to blatant infringements on property rights.”

The CRA allows Congress to undo rules issued within a certain amount of time. Only simple majority votes are required in the House and Senate, and the president’s signature. A number of recently issued rules or upcoming Biden administration actions are vulnerable.

Vivek Ramaswamy, who’s helping lead a government efficiency task force for President-elect Donald Trump, offered a “friendly reminder” to Congress on the CRA on social media.

“The Congressional Review Act allows the House & Senate to ‘fast track’ a joint resolution rejecting federal regulations within 60 session-days of a regulation being finalized,” he wrote. “This process has been successfully used >20 times, including 16 times at the start of Pres. Trump’s first term to rescind Obama-era regulations.”

In 2017, with a new governing “trifecta,” Republicans undid more than a dozen Obama regulations, including a coal mining pollution rule.

On social media, Ramaswamy added: “We can’t just complain anymore. Now that we’re back in power, it’s time to act.”

Senior House Agriculture Committee member Jim Costa (D-Calif.) will challenge ailing ranking member David Scott (D-Ga.) as the leader of the House Agriculture Committee, he told colleagues Wednesday.

Costa informed a group of fellow California Democrats of his plans to challenge Scott during the state delegation lunch, according to three people familiar with the matter who were granted anonymity to discuss the closed-door meeting. And he has invited some Democrats to a meeting Thursday to discuss the farm bill — which has been stalled in Congress for over a year.

CNN first reported Costa telling members he would mount a challenge to Scott.

Costa lost out to Scott in the contest for the top Agriculture panel post in 2020. Since then, a number of Democrats on the panel have made several unsuccessful attempts to oust Scott from his role, citing concerns about his health and lack of leadership on the committee. Democrats also pushed earlier this year to replace Scott as the top House Democrat in the negotiations over the $1.5 trillion farm bill.

Democrats, including some frontline members, have been pressing for Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) to challenge Scott. But Thompson has resisted their efforts.

Several panel Democrats knew of Costa’s plans, but his challenge to Scott surprised many other Democrats on the committee. Rather than lining up the votes he’ll need in private before launching his bid, Costa is now scrambling to call and talk to panel Democrats in hallways on Capitol Hill to make his pitch.

Scott, meanwhile, has been absent from Congress since lawmakers returned after the election. He told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he was getting treatment for back issues and will return “in full strength” in early December, after Thanksgiving break.

And Scott has maintained that he will vie for the top spot on the panel for the upcoming Congress.

Scott has always enjoyed strong backing from Democratic leaders, despite growing pleas from rank-and-file members to replace him as the agriculture panel’s top Democrat. But Democrats note current House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries hasn’t been as vocal in his public backing of Scott as former Speaker Nancy Pelosi was.

Costa’s bid comes as Democrats grapple over the future of their party and its leadership. Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) also announced Wednesday morning that he will challenge top House Natural Resources Committee Democrat Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who, like Scott, has faced health concerns and been absent from Congress for extended periods.

GOP Sen. Rand Paul denounced President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to deploy the military to carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants upon his return to office, saying it would be a “huge mistake” and a misuse of military personnel.

“I’m not in favor of sending the Army in uniforms into our cities to collect people,” Paul (R-Ky.) told Newsmax host Rob Schmitt on Tuesday. “I think it’s a terrible image and that’s not what we use our military for, we never have and it’s actually been illegal for over 100 years to bring the Army into our cities.”

Paul emphasized in the interview that he believes the task of removing people from the country should fall to local police or domestic agencies, but not the military.

“I will not support an emergency [declaration] to put the Army into our cities — I think that’s a huge mistake,” he said, later adding, “I really think us as conservatives who are supportive of Trump need to caution him about sending the Army into our cities.”

Trump has vowed to begin deporting hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants from the country on Day 1 of his new administration, nominating former acting ICE Director Thomas Homan as his “border czar” for the task.

As the incoming chair of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Paul has said he’ll seek to restore Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy, which would require asylum seekers to the U.S. to wait in Mexico for their legal request to be processed. He has an inconsistent record with supporting Trump, endorsing him for president in 2020 but not this year. In 2019, Paul voted against Trump’s proposed national emergency declaration to secure funds for his border wall.

The senator also expressed concern for how it would look like for “the housekeeper who’s been here 30 years” to get arrested by a uniformed service member.

“I don’t see the military putting her in handcuffs and marching her down the street to an encampment. I don’t really want to see that,” Paul said, proposing “an in-between solution” that would expand work permits for those who have been in the U.S. for a long time.

Speaker Mike Johnson has banned transgender women from using women’s bathrooms in the House portion of the Capitol building, enacting into policy a push led by Rep. Nancy Mace.

“All single-sex facilities in the Capitol and House Office Buildings — such as restrooms, changing rooms, and locker rooms — are reserved for individuals of that biological sex,” Johnson said in a statement Wednesday.

He added: “It is important to note that each Member office has its own private restroom, and unisex restrooms are available throughout the Capitol. Women deserve women’s only spaces.”

According to the House rules, Johnson — and any speaker — have “general control of the Hall of the House, the corridors and passages in the part of the Capitol assigned to the use of the House.” The Johnson statement did not provide details on the future of Mace’s rules push.

Johnson only has control over the House side of the complex, so Senate policy on transgender bathroom usage would have to be separately determined.

When asked about enforcement of the policy, Johnson told reporters, “Like all house policies, it’s enforceable. And we have single sex facilities for a reason, and women deserve women’s only spaces.”

Mace (R-S.C.) has led the charge for banning Rep.-elect Sarah McBride (D-Del.), who will become the first openly transgender member of Congress in January, from using women’s restrooms. Democrats have fiercely defended McBride against the GOP attacks, while the congresswoman-elect has called the focus on bathrooms a distraction from issues Congress should be addressing.

The move by Republican leaders comes on Transgender Day of Remembrance. A large group of Democratic lawmakers introduced a resolution memorializing the lives of transgender people lost due to violence in the United States and around the globe.

POLITICO has reached out to the offices of McBride and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries for comment.

Olivia Beavers and Nicholas Wu contributed to this report.

Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats have officially requested the FBI file on Attorney General nominee Matt Gaetz.

In a letter obtained by POLITICO sent to FBI Director Christopher Wray, Democratic members of Judiciary Committee requested the evidentiary file from law enforcement’s probe into whether Gaetz engaged in child sex trafficking. The former Florida lawmaker, who resigned last week after President-elect Donald Trump announced plans to nominate him as attorney general, has denied all wrongdoing.

“In order for the Senate to perform its constitutional duty in this instance, we must be able to thoroughly review all relevant materials that speak to the credibility of these serious allegations against Mr. Gaetz,” the letter reads.

The Department of Justice closed the investigation into Gaetz without bringing charges.

All panel Democrats except Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) signed the letter.

President-elect Donald Trump announced on Wednesday he will name former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, a close ally, to serve as the U.S. ambassador to NATO.

In a statement, Trump said that “Matt is a strong warrior and loyal Patriot, who will ensure the United States’ interests are advanced and defended.” Trump added: “Matt will strengthen relationships with our NATO Allies, and stand firm in the face of threats to Peace and Stability – He will put AMERICA FIRST.”

Whitaker’s foreign policy views are largely unknown. A college football player turned prosecutor, Whitaker served as U.S. attorney for the southern district of Iowa and worked as a commentator before joining the Justice Department in 2017 as Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ chief of staff. Whitaker was seen as a contender for attorney general or another top law enforcement job in a second Trump administration. He has never served in a foreign policy or national security-focused role.

A review of his X account found only three posts mentioning Ukraine — one of which saw him praise Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, for donating protective equipment to Ukraine in the early days of Russia’s 2022 invasion. Days after the invasion, he also wrote on social media: “It is time to put #russia on the sidelines of everything.”

But Whitaker, who led the Justice Department in an acting capacity following Sessions’ resignation as AG (at Trump’s request), is a close ally of the president-elect. He defended Trump during his first impeachment amid allegations that Trump held up military aid for Ukraine as he pressured the Ukrainian government to produce damaging information against Hunter Biden, son of then-2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden. Whitaker also joined Trump on the campaign trail in 2024.

Trump on the campaign trail promised to play hardball with the transatlantic alliance, which Biden helped revitalize amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. And Whitaker in Brussels will likely play a key role in nudging European member states that are not yet spending two percent of their gross domestic products on defense to meet spending targets.

Here’s what we’re watching in transition world today:

 🗓️ Mark your calendar/what we’re watching

The House Ethics Committee will meet today as the panel faces pressure to release its report on attorney general nominee Matt Gaetz. Just one GOP vote could trigger the release of the report.
Trump’s pick for Treasury secretary is still up in the air. But, a leading contender for the job, Kevin Warsh, holds views that could clash with the president-elect’s, such as the importance of free trade, the political independence of the Fed and a strong dollar.

🚨What’s up with the nominees?

Just because MAGA world is excited over Pete Hegseth’s nomination as Defense secretary, it doesn’t mean Senate Republicans are feeling the same. GOP members are offering a tepid defense of President-elect Donald Trump’s pick and seem to be taking a wait-and-see approach for confirmation heading into the new year.

📝ICYMI: Here are the latest Cabinet picks 

Howard Lutnick, a longtime friend and chief executive of the financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, was nominated as Commerce secretary
Linda McMahon, Trump transition co-chair and former wrestling executive, was nominated as Education secretary

⏱️What Cabinet secretary announcements are we still waiting on?

Treasury
Agriculture
Labor
HUD
Trade