Women May Lead the Senate Appropriations Committee

With both Chair Leahy (D-VT) and Shelby (R-AL)’s retirement announcements, the Senate Appropriations Committee could be led for the first time by two women: Sens. Collins (R-ME) and Murray (D-WA), who are next in line to lead the committee in the 118th Congress. Sen. Murray would relinquish her leadership role of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee to take the gavel of the full Appropriations’ Committee should Democrats continue to control the Senate. Sen. Murray would be only the second woman to head the committee (former Sen. Mikulski (D-MD), who left the Senate in 2017, served as both chair and ranking member of the committee).