House committee leaders are scouring the federal budget for spending cuts they can use to pay for President Donald Trump’s expansive agenda.
But there’s at least one place they would like to spend more — on themselves.
The House Administration Committee meets this morning for one of two hearings with chairs and ranking members who plan to ask for bigger budgets for their panels. The reasons? A desire to increase salaries for aides, hire additional staff and hold more field hearings.
The funding requests come as Republican committee chairs are cheering efforts by the Trump administration to cut off approved spending while GOP congressional leaders map out how it can slash more of the federal budget.
The House Oversight, Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means committees are among those asking for the bigger budgets this Congress. Each asked for more than $30 million during the next two years, according to a review of their requests.
Energy and Commerce asked for one of the biggest increases in dollar terms, about $4.5 million more than it requested for the 118th Congress. The panel plans to hire more staff, pay more to retain current aides and hold more field hearings, a source familiar with the request said.
The Natural Resources and Financial Services committees are seeking 10% increases. Transportation and Infrastructure is looking for a 7% boost, Agriculture wants 5% more and the Rules Committee is asking for a 2.5% raise.
The requests from Ways and Means and Oversight were both close to a 10% boost compared to last Congress. Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) said in his written testimony that it’s a “modest increase” of less than 10% and wasn’t adjusted for inflation.
Natural Resources Committee Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) wrote that field hearings and maintaining competitive staff salaries are behind his need for more funding. Financial Services Committee Chair French Hill (R-Ark.) similarly said his panel needs the hike to hire more full-time staff.
House Financial Services is adding 15 more staff members this Congress. As part of that hiring push, Hill wants to add a chief economist to examine monetary policy and Treasury debt market decisions. Hill also asked for a bigger travel budget so subcommittees can hold more field hearings.
Rules Committee Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) said her funding request is largely due to a more intense workload. Rules last year saw a 62% increase in amendment submissions, processing 13,900 in the last Congress, according to Foxx’s written testimony.
This year, Foxx is asking for around $8 million. Rules has requested and received flat funding for the past two years.
“Please understand that as a notoriously frugal member of Congress, this budget request came with the requisite diligence and thoughtfulness that you might expect from a Foxx Chairwomanship,” Foxx wrote.
