Alexander, Corker announce committee assignments

U.S. senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker have announced their committee assignments for the new Congress.

Alexander will serve on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions; Appropriations; Energy and Natural Resources; and Rules and Administration.

Corker will serve on Foreign Relations; Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; Budget; and Special Committee on Aging.

Alexander and Corker are both Tennessee Republicans.

In a press release in December, Alexander said he was the ranking Republican member on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, and the ranking Republican member on the subcommittee that oversees energy and water appropriations.

Corker was the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

Republicans took over the U.S. Senate in the November election. They had already controlled the House of Representatives.

“In the new Senate majority, Republicans will have an extraordinary opportunity to show Americans what it means to lead and work together to get results,” Alexander said. “We need to repair the damage Obamacare has done to our health care system. We need to get Washington out of our local schools. We need to reform the FDA so life-saving drugs can get to patients faster. We need a 21st-century energy policy that doesn’t pick winners and losers in the marketplace and recognizes the importance of clean, low-cost, and reliable nuclear power. These will all be top priorities of mine as the new Congress begins in January, and these committee assignments give me a real opportunity to get results.”

“As I traveled across the Volunteer State in the days following the November election, Tennesseans made clear that they are ready for the Senate to govern responsibly and finally focus on growing our economy, repairing our fiscal house and strengthening our nation’s role in the world,” Corker said. “Serving on the Foreign Relations, Banking, Budget, and Aging committees will allow me the unique opportunity to focus on the issues that matter most to Tennesseans and our country, and I am eager to get to work.

“Some of America’s greatest achievements and longest-lasting solutions have occurred when one party controls Congress and another the White House,” Corker said. “It will take hard work, but if the president rolls up his sleeves and provides leadership and if the Congress acts responsibly, I truly believe we can begin to solve the big issues before us so that my generation can leave behind a stronger nation than the one we inherited.”

Committee assignments are subject to approval of the Republican Conference as well as the full Senate. Chairs will be selected by a vote of the members of each respective committee and then approved by the Republican Conference, which is expected to take place in early January.