House Democrats’ steering committee on Monday appointed Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) to the House Ways and Means Committee, amid a desire by some for more Hispanic lawmakers on the powerful panel.
The announcement comes after House Democrats announced the appointment of 10 other Democrats to the Ways and Means Committee last week. The Ways and Means Committee has jurisdiction over issues including taxes, trade, health care and Social Security.
A spokesman for Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) told The Hill that without Gomez on the Ways and Means Committee, Sanchez would have been the only member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on the panel.
Sanchez and Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) told Politico that they thought there was a need for more Hispanic and Southern California lawmakers on Ways and Means.
But a senior Democratic aide told Politico that the addition of Gomez, and expansion of the number of Democratic members of the committee, was prompted by a desire by Republicans to increase the number of seats that GOP members would get.
Gomez, a former California state lawmaker, was first elected to Congress in 2017, winning a special election after former Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.) left Congress to become California’s attorney general. Becerra had been a member of Ways and Means.
Gomez said in a statement that he is looking forward “to working with Chairman Richard Neal [D-Mass.] in using every tool at our disposal to protect the most vulnerable communities in my district and across the nation.”