Heading into Election Day, most polls, including the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, looked promising for Democrats to gain control of the House – only needing to gain 23 seats, so it was not a total surprise (The Hill, 11/6/18).  Likewise, the Senate looked less likely to flip, and it didn’t, thereby keeping committee leadership in the hands of the Republicans.

How Will Things Change?

Now that the Democrats control the House, they will hold the roles of speaker and majority leader, thereby driving the agenda and controlling what bills are brought to the floor, Democrats will hold the roles of committee chairs – thereby driving the agenda of what bills are brought up in Committee.  As always though, for most major legislation to pass through the House and Senate, it will be important for bipartisanship for to prevail, particularly on water policy and infrastructure funding legislation.

If you watched the news on election night, the press conferences on November 7, or picked up a paper this week, you probably saw and heard that prescription drug prices, prison violence, and infrastructure were three of the main issues that both Republicans and Democrats felt could be bipartisan issues in a divided Congress.  The next likely Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi specifically mentioned passage of an infrastructure package is a priority for the Democrats in the House.  The 115th Congress saw President Trump’s infrastructure package and several major bills — such as S. 3021 that included provisions which WEF proposed — that demonstrated a high level of support in Congress for a major infrastructure package that would include water infrastructure.  It will be imperative for the entire water sector to advocate for water infrastructure to be in any package that moves forward. 

Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) is set to take the helm of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee – and in the past has expressed a willingness to work with the President on infrastructure (New York Times, 10/29/18).  DeFazio also commented this summer that “I have assurances from the current leadership that infrastructure is at the top of their agenda.” (Bloomberg BNA, 11/7/8)

The current chairman, Rep. Bill Shuster (R-PA) is retiring at the end of the year, so Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO) or Rep. Jeff Denham (R-CA) are the likely options for Committee Ranking Member in the 116th Committee (Denham’s House race is still undecided) and both believe infrastructure should be at the top of the agenda.  Republicans and Democrats will just need to work out policy differences on how to pay for the infrastructure in the next Congress.

Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-CA) will likely be the new Chair of the Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee, and Rep. Garret Graves (R-LA), the current Chair, will likely become Ranking Member. 

In addition, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) will likely Chair the House Science Committee—and plans to put the focus on climate change. 

Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) is in position to be the new Chair of the powerful Appropriations Committee.  While the Appropriations Committee must work together so that the government is funded each year– we will likely see some differences in opinion and spending priorities here, as there always are.  Rep. Betty McCollum, currently the Ranking Member of the  Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and Environment, will likely become Chair of the Subcommittee at the start of the new Congress.

We can expect, as always, some jockeying and some switching around of Committees in the Senate due to retirements, losses, and leadership term limits.  For example, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) has already expressed an interest in switching from the Energy Committee to the Commerce Committee if given the chance.  However, most Committee leadership is expected to remain intact in the Senate. 

Also of note, in the 115th Congress, we saw multiple attempts in the House to pull back the Obama Administration’s Waters of the US (WOTUS) rule.  This often came in the form of a “rider” attached to another bill—for example the recently passed S. 3021, America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 —and was removed when House and Senate members met in conference.  Now that Democrats will control the House, it is less likely we will see a WOTUS rider attached to a House bill.

In the meantime, House and Senate Members of the 115th Congress will return on November 13 for a lame-duck session to complete their work for this Congress.  This includes passing the remaining appropriations bills, which includes the Interior and Environment Appropriations bill for FY 2019.  The lame duck session could potentially include passing a farm bill, as well.

In addition, Governor’s seats were up for election in 36 states.  Winners in several key states are shown below:

• California:  Gavin Newsom (D)
• Texas:  Greg Abbott (R)
• Illinois:  J.B. Pritzker (D)
• New York:  Andrew Cuomo (D)
• Florida:  Ron DeSantis (R)*
• Ohio:  Mike DeWine (R)
• Maryland:  Larry Hogan (R)

We will continue to update you as Chairmanships are solidified and provide with a finally tally on Democrat and Republican seats in the House and Senate once results are final.

*Recount expected