Democrats reach agreement with GOP on House committee ratios

Correction: Democrats held a 222-212 advantage in the previous congress.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) announced Sunday that Democrats have reached an agreement with House Republicans on the remaining standing committee ratios for the upcoming term.

“These ratios are consistent with an inversion of those from the prior Congress where Democrats held a similarly sized majority, notwithstanding a few changes in overall committee size,” Jeffries said in a letter to colleagues that was obtained by The Hill.

Republicans currently hold a 222-212 advantage over Democrats in the House, after Democrats held an identical edge in the last Congress.

House Republican leadership announced committee appointments last week, including reassigning Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) to committees after they were both stripped of their assignments in 2021.

“It is my expectation that no returning member of the House Democratic Caucus will involuntarily lose a seat related to an existing committee assignment, except for the House Committee on Ways and Means, as previously anticipated,” Jeffries said.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) previously vowed to keep prominent Democrats off certain committees, including keeping Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) off the House Foreign Affairs Committee and keeping Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) off the House Intelligence Committee.

Jeffries said Democratic membership on the House Armed Services, Budget, Foreign Affairs, Judiciary and Small Business committees is a “direct inversion” from when the Democrats had the majority in the last Congress.

On the House Armed Services Committee, for example, Democrats held a 31-29 majority in the last session, which will now flip with the GOP in the majority.

Some committees will also change in size, according to the letter. Membership on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee will increase by one seat from each party, Transportation will decrease by two seats from each party, and Education will decrease by four seats from each party.

The Hill has reached out to the offices of Jeffries and McCarthy for additional comment on the seat agreement.