Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut officially launched her bid to chair the House Appropriations Committee for the second time after Democrats clinched control of the House in Tuesday's midterm election.
DeLauro, who is 83 and has served in the House since 1991, is currently the panel's top Democrat and is expected to easily win the gavel for the 120th Congress.
“If re-elected as chair, I intend to use the gavel to further increase domestic investments in health care, education, job training, housing, transportation, energy, protecting the environment, economic development, consumer protection, and cutting-edge research all of which will help bring down costs and ease the strain on working families,” she wrote in a letter Wednesday to Democratic colleagues.
She touted her record as chair in 2021 and 2022, when she restored lawmakers' ability to secure earmarks, or "Community Project Funding," for projects in their districts and states. DeLauro also announced plans this time around to “claw back billions of dollars Republicans unilaterally provided to Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Pentagon through budget reconciliation in an end run outside of the Appropriations Committee."
Democrats will be running up against a Republican White House the next two years, where President Donald Trump could threaten to veto legislation he doesn't like. They also won't have a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate to advance legislation along party lines.
But DeLauro and her counterpart, top Senate Appropriations Democrat Patty Murray of Washington, have been leading the charge against the Trump administration’s attempts to exert greater executive branch control over federal spending decisions, including its withholding of funding previously approved by Congress, including through “pocket rescissions."
DeLauro on Wednesday pledged to hold the Trump administration to account for these sorts of funding freezes, transfers and diversions that Democrats allege broke the law.
“Mark my words: if re-elected as chair, wherever and whenever this administration has violated the law with regard to the use of federal funds, I will hold them accountable,” DeLauro wrote.
