The House Republican leadership announced the committee heads for next year’s Congress yesterday and somewhat unsurprisingly there were no women or racial minorities in the group. Let’s compare this to the Democrats. While Nancy Pelosi hasn’t announced her roster yet, we can make a pretty good guess at who will be serving as the ranking member (highest ranking Democrat) on each full committee in the House.
Agriculture- Collin Peterson (Minnesota)
Appropriations- Marcy Kaptur (Ohio) or Nita Lowey (New York)
Armed Services- Adam Smith (Washington)
Budget- Chris Van Hollen (Maryland)
Education & Workforce- George Miller (California)
Energy & Commerce- Henry Waxman (California)
Ethics- Linda Sanchez (co-chair) – (California)
Financial Services- Maxine Waters (California)
Foreign Affairs- Eliot Engel (New York) or Eni F. H. Faleomavaega (American Samoa)
Homeland Security- Bennie Thompson (Mississippi)
House Administration- Bob Brady (Pennsylvania)
Judiciary- John Conyers (Michigan)
Natural Resources- Ed Markey (Massachusetts)
Oversight & Government Reform- Elijah Cummings (Maryland)
Rules- Louise Slaughter (New York)
Science, Space, & Technology- Eddie Bernice Johnson (Texas)
Small Business- Nydia M. Velázquez (New York)
Transportation- Nick Rahall (West Virginia)
Veteran’s Affairs- Corrine Brown (Florida)
For those of you scoring at home, seven out of nineteen House committees will be led by women on the Democratic side. Eight (and possibly nine) of the committees will be led by people of color on the Democratic side. Of course, the House Democrats are also led by a woman and the party is led by a black man.
The Democratic Party is not only a diverse party, it is a party that shares power diversely. The House Republicans have three women in their leadership team, and their Majority Leader is Jewish. Other than that, they have no racial or religious diversity and all power resides with men.
This difference in internal party dynamics played out very explicitly in the last election, where the Republicans only did well in districts that are either devoid of minorities or where there is a high degree of racial animosity.
This polarization of the country has grown extreme and it helps explain why it is difficult to get Democrats and Republicans to work together. They seem to live in and represent different countries.