On The Hill

Yesterday (Jan. 3), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) released the full list of committee assignments for Republican members in the Senate. The Senate Finance Committee has three new Republicans members for the 116th Congress: James Lankford (R-OK), Steve Daines (R-MT) and Todd Young (R-IN). A full list of the new committee assignments can be viewed here.

House Rules Package

The House rules passed by Democrats reinstated the “Gephardt Rule.” The rule allows the chamber to issue a resolution “suspending” the debt ceiling to the Senate once the House adopts its own version of a budget resolution, allowing it to do so without a House vote. The rules package also includes a provision that would restore “pay-as-you-go” budget rules, requiring offsets for deficit-increasing legislation.

Technicals Package

On the last day of the 115th Congress, former House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) released a technical corrections package to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). For the package to pass in the 116th Congress, House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal (D-MA) will drive a hard bargain for the majority’s tax priorities with Ways and Means Republicans.  The full text is attached.

Tax Moves

House Ways and Means Republicans announced Randy Gartin will replace outgoing Chief Tax Counsel Barbara Angus.  The press release can be accessed here.

Late Friday afternoon, new Senate Finance Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) announced that Mark Warren, formerly with Senate Whip John Thune’s (R-SD) office, will be his Chief Tax Counsel for the committee.