By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Wednesday, January 25, 2017 U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R from Alabama) announced that he has been named the chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Rules and Administration.
Sen. Shelby said, “It is an honor to lead the Senate Rules Committee and to continue to serve on the Banking and Appropriations Committees in the 115th Congress. There is much work to be done, and I look forward to hitting the ground running in these committees to deliver the results that the American people expect and deserve.”
Sen. Shelby also announced his committee and subcommittee assignments for the 115th Congress. In addition to serving as the Rules Committee Chairman, Senator Shelby will be the most senior Republican member on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and the third most senior Republican member on the Senate Committee on Appropriations.
On the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Shelby will serve as the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies. Sen. Shelby will also serve as a member of the following subcommittees: Defense; Energy and Water Development; Homeland Security; Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies; and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies.
On the Senate Banking Committee, Senator Shelby will serve as a member of the following subcommittees: Securities, Insurance, and Investment; Financial Institutions and Consumer Protections; and Housing, Transportation, and Community Development. In the last Congress, Sen. Shelby was the Chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee; but was term limited from continuing as Chairman for another Congress.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D from Minnesota) will be the ranking Democratic member of the Rules and Administration Committee.
The Committee on Rules and Administration deals with all proposed legislation, messages, petitions, memorials, and other matters relating to: administration of the Senate office buildings and the Senate wing of the Capitol, including the assignment of office space; congressional organization relative to rules and procedures, and Senate rules and regulations, including floor and gallery rules; corrupt practices; credentials and qualifications of Members of the Senate, contested elections, and acceptance of incompatible offices; federal elections generally, including the election of the President, Vice President, and Members of the Congress; the Government Printing Office, and the printing and correction of the Congressional Record; meetings of the Congress and attendance of Members; payment of money out of the contingent fund of the Senate or creating a charge upon the same; presidential succession; the purchase of books and manuscripts and erection of monuments to the memory of individuals; the Senate Library and statuary, art, and pictures in the Capitol and Senate Office Buildings; services to the Senate, including the Senate restaurant; and United States Capitol and congressional office buildings, the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution (and the incorporation of similar institutions), and the Botanic Gardens.
Richard Shelby was first elected to the Senate in 1986 after having previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Alabama Senate. The people of Alabama recently elected Shelby to his sixth term in the U.S. Senate.
