House Republicans have chosen Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington to lead their party on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
“From blatant assaults on free speech, to Medicare-for-All, to the Green New Deal, Energy and Commerce is at the very center of the battles for freedom to beat socialism and hope to beat fear,” McMorris Rodgers said in a statement on her selection Wednesday.
“My goal is to maximize Energy and Commerce so House Republicans win the majority and secure America’s future global leadership as the best place in the world to usher in a new era of innovation, cure diseases, and raise people’s standard of living,” she added.
McMorris Rodgers will replace retiring Rep. Greg Walden of Oregon, beating out Ohio Rep. Bob Latta and Texas Rep. Michael Burgess for the top GOP slot. She will be the first woman from either party to hold a leadership position on the committee, which has a wide jurisdiction, including energy and climate policy, healthcare issues, and technology.
In her statement, McMorris Rodgers said she seeks to help set Republicans up to lead on “all-the-above energy solutions.” She has strongly supported hydropower, in particular, introducing legislation to speed up licensing for hydropower projects and expand their development.
“The way we solve the climate crisis is through free market technological innovation,” McMorris Rodgers said in a statement in June when introducing her hydropower bill. She has also lent support to legislation that boosts advanced nuclear power and carbon capture technologies.
Some climate and environmental groups praised McMorris Rodgers’ selection as an encouraging sign for bipartisan agreement on measures to curb emissions.
McMorris Rodgers “is an experienced leader who understands that we must balance America’s energy needs with reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” said Quill Robinson, vice president of government affairs for the American Conservation Coalition, a group of young Republicans working on climate change.
He noted McMorris Rodgers supports the group’s American Climate Contract, which calls for the U.S. to advance policies that move toward a goal of global net-zero carbon emissions by midcentury. “She represents the future of the Republican Party on the issue of climate change,” Robinson added.
Collin O’Mara, head of the National Wildlife Federation, said his group looks forward to working with McMorris Rodgers on deploying clean energy, restoring habitats for wildlife, and building on recent bipartisan conservation legislation.
