The prestigious House Intelligence Committee will now be short two Republican members come April, when Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) plans to retire from Congress, leaving it up to the party’s top leaders to decide who will take their place on the coveted committee.
Gallagher, who also chairs the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, will be the second Republican to leave the intelligence committee following his departure from the House on April 19. He follows Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT), who retired from Congress in September last year due to his wife’s illness.
The decision on who will replace Gallagher and Stewart on the permanent select committee falls on the backs of the GOP Steering Committee, a panel of around 30 members comprised of top Republican leadership and elected regional representatives, led by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). The committee selects most of the chairmanships and committee assignments for House Republicans.
Under the rules, the speaker has a large influence over the steering committee with four votes. Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) gets two, while all other members of leadership and the elected representatives receive one vote.
A spokesperson for House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-OH) told the Washington Examiner on Monday that Turner “is working with Speaker Johnson to fill the vacancies.” Johnson’s office declined to comment on updates for appointments.
Johnson and the steering committee have many other vacancies to consider, including the chairpersonship for the House Appropriations Committee. Retiring Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX) announced she would step down as the committee’s top leader last week after the final fiscal 2024 spending deal passed, but she will remain on the committee until her term expires. She asked the steering committee to find her replacement “as soon as possible.”
The speaker announced on Monday that Rep. John Moolenaar (R-MI) would replace Gallagher as the CCP select committee’s chairman. Rules Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) announced he would put his name forward to succeed Granger on the Appropriations Committee. Given his years of experience on appropriations, he is the likely front-runner for the position.
Other vacancies will come in the new Congress, as Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Patrick McHenry (R-NC), who lead the prestigious House Energy and Commerce Committee and Financial Services Committee, will retire at the end of this term. Given the GOP’s narrow majority in the House and several competitive races this November, Rodgers’s and McHenry’s successors may end up serving as ranking members.
The new appointees for the House Intelligence Committee will join in the battle to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which lets the government essentially use surveillance on foreign nationals outside the country without needing a warrant to do so, even if the party on the other side of communications is on American soil.
In February, Johnson delayed the vote on the section renewal after reports of infighting between the House Rules and Intelligence committees over a difference of opinion on certain changes to Section 702.
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It is unclear when Johnson will bring the renewal back to the House floor, but Republicans have until April 19 to continue negotiations before FISA expires. The April deadline was an extension included in last year’s National Defense Authorization Act to buy time for more negotiations.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Scalise for comment on the timeline for another vote on FISA.