Schrier selected to serve on House Energy and Commerce Committee

Congresswoman Kim Schrier, D-Wa. (8th District) has been selected to serve on the House Energy and Commerce Committee for the 117th Congress.

The Committee on Energy and Commerce is the oldest continuous standing committee in the U.S. House of Representatives and has the broadest jurisdiction of any authorizing committee in the House. It legislates on many issues including health care, climate change, energy policy, environmental protections, medical research, and telecommunications.

The 8th District includes parts of Kent, Renton and Auburn.

“I am honored and thrilled to serve on the Energy and Commerce Committee next Congress,” Schrier said in a Dec. 17 media release. “As our country continues to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, I am eager to put my two decades of health care experience to work overseeing our public health response.

“As the only woman doctor and first pediatrician to serve in Congress, I look forward to being a voice for America’s 74 million children and to continue my work to lower health costs for families, expand health care access for children and to improve vaccine confidence and coverage. This committee provides the platform to address many of the issues that matter most to my constituents—like rural health care, lowering the cost of prescription drugs, progress toward a carbon neutral future, closing the digital divide and supporting the innovators and job creators in our state’s strong digital, commercial aerospace, and life sciences sectors.”

Schrier will be the first Washington Democrat to serve on the committee since Gov. Jay Inslee in 2012 when he represented the 1st District. Schrier has been a member of the Education and Labor Committee and the Committee on Agriculture for the last two years.