Schumer fills out Homeland Security, Commerce seats with new lawmakers in 119th Congress

January 7, 2025

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) has named a trio of freshman senators to join the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, including Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Andy Kim (D-NJ) and Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) as the panel moves into a new era under the leadership of Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY).

Schumer announced the new committee assignments on Jan. 2, the day before the first meeting of the new Congress where Republicans hold the majority in both chambers.

Sen. John Thune (R-SD) on Jan. 3 became majority leader, and Schumer moved into the minority leader position.

In the Homeland Security panel, Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) becomes ranking member and hands the gavel to Paul after chairing the panel in the 119th Congress.

The freshman committee members are bringing intelligence and military experience to the panel, as well as cyber expertise.

Slotkin, who has elected to the House in 2019, has a national security background as a former CIA analyst and also spent time at the White House and the Defense Department. She was on the House Homeland Security panel when Democrats held control of the chamber in the 117th Congress and sponsored multiple cyber bills including one aimed at reauthorizing the National Computer Forensics Institute.

In the 118th Congress, Slotkin held a seat in the House Armed Services Committee, where she was ranking member of the intelligence subcommittee.

In May 2024, she proposed legislation to create a national security review process for connected vehicles at the Commerce Department, following up on a Commerce rulemaking process aimed at reviewing foreign transactions under existing authorities.

Slotkin also pushed for two provisions on China in the fiscal 2025 National Defense Authorization Act. The measures included "a ban on Chinese connected vehicle at U.S. military bases and a prohibition on the procurement of Chinese-made LIDAR by the Department of Defense," according to Slotkin.

Kim, a veteran, was elected to the House in 2019 and served on the House Armed Services, Foreign Affairs and China select committees in the last legislative session.

Gallego was elected to the House in 2015 and also boasts military experience. He served alongside Kim and Slotkin in the House Armed Services Committee in the last Congress.

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) is also joining the Homeland Security panel.

Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Jon Ossoff (D-GA) are leaving the committee. Other Democratic members Sens. Tom Carper (D-DE), Laphonza Butler (D-CA) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) retired at the end of the last legislative session.

In her time on the Homeland Security committee, Rosen was an advocate for shoring up cyber defenses in the healthcare and education sectors.

Rosen will remain on the Senate Commerce and Small Business panels, as well as the Armed Services Committee where she chaired the cyber subcommittee in the 118th Congress. Rosen is joining the Foreign Relations Committee.

The Homeland Security panel is expected to address the role and functions of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency as a priority, based on Paul's stated objective of curtailing alleged government censorship in the agency's election security work with social media companies.

Senate Commerce Committee

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is the new chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, with Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) as ranking member.

New Democratic members on the Commerce panel are Fetterman and Kim, as well as freshman Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), who was elected to the House in 2017.

Exiting the Commerce panel after their time in the 118th Congress are Sens. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Peter Welch (D-VT), as well as Sinema and Jon Tester (D-MT), who lost a reelection bid to Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-MT).

Under Republican leadership, the Commerce panel could pursue deregulation in the 119th Congress to address a central priority of the Trump administration and the "Department of Government Efficiency" initiative led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. -- Jacob Livesay ([email protected])