After two years in Congress, Representative Jennifer Wexton (D-VA-10) has been nominated to the powerful House Appropriations Committee for the 117th session which starts in January. The current session is the first in over a century where Virginia had no representatives on the committee, according to a Wexton press release. She will be able to advocate funding for Virginia priorities like infrastructure and national defense.
“I am honored to receive an appointment to the House Appropriations Committee, and thrilled that Virginia and the 10th Congressional District will once again be represented on this important committee,” Wexton said.
Congress created the committee in 1865 to handle peacetime spending after federal spending exploded during the Civil War, according to the committee’s website. In the late 1800s, other committees began asserting authority over the committee, but in the wake of big spending during the first World War, power was again consolidated in the Appropriations Committee. As wars and social programs alternately expanded federal spending throughout the 20th century, the committee grew in size and power.
Today, the committee considers 12 appropriations bills each year. “The House Committee on Appropriations — comprised of 30 Democrats and 23 Republicans and organized into 12 subcommittees — is responsible for funding the federal government’s vital activities to keep the United States safe, strong, and moving forward,” the committee website states. “Committee members work on behalf of the American people by prioritizing good schools, robust job training, affordable higher education, quality health care, and better infrastructure.”
Before her election to Congress, Wexton served as a state senator starting in 2014, and had been a prosecutor in Loudoun County, according to Ballotpedia and her bio.
The House Democratic Steering Committee nominated Wexton. Her nomination will now go before the Democratic Caucus for approval, according to a press release from Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA-12) office.
“We have a lot of work to do to provide robust support for a strong recovery, invest in chronically underfunded agencies and programs, and fix our country’s broken infrastructure,” Wexton said. “I will work tirelessly on behalf of my constituents, including tens of thousands of federal workers and contractors, and be a strong voice for the priorities of the Commonwealth.”
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Eric Burk is a reporter at The Virginia Star and the Star News Digital Network. Email tips to [email protected].
