Committee Assignments

The House of Representatives has 20 committees that consider bills and issues and recommend measures for consideration by the full House. Committees also have oversight responsibilities to monitor agencies, programs, and activities within their jurisdictions. I serve on three committees which have jurisdiction over issues that directly affect West Texans: Financial Services, Agriculture, and Science, Space, & Technology.

House Committee on Financial Services

Financial Services handles policies on the economy, our banking system, housing, insurance, and securities and exchanges. As a team, we’re working to reduce the government’s footprint in the economy by strengthening the free enterprise system that made this Country great, cutting regulatory burdens that make capital more expensive and less available, and shifting risk away from the American taxpayer and into the private sector – a place that understands how to price risk.

Chairman of the Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance
The government has gotten far too tangled up in our housing and insurance markets, and now taxpayers are backing about 90% of all mortgages. What’s more, the government isn’t good at managing these programs, so many are going broke. My goal as Subcommittee Chairman is reducing the government's role so taxpayers aren’t on the hook, and our housing and insurance markets are more efficient.

The Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance has two primary jurisdictions. Generally, Housing covers all federal housing programs except for programs administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs. This includes issues ranging from construction and safety standards to mortgage and loan insurance. Insurance covers all government sponsored insurance programs like flood insurance, terrorism insurance and others. See the Financial Services Committee Rules for a full description of our jurisdiction.

Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises
Responsible for securities, exchanges, and finance; capital markets activities, including business capital formation and venture capital; activities involving futures, forwards, options, and other types of derivative instruments; the Securities and Exchange Commission; secondary market organizations for home mortgages, including the Federal National Mortgage Association, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, and the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation; the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight; the Federal Home Loan Banks; the Federal Housing Finance Board; terrorism risk insurance; and insurance generally. Learn more here.

House Committee on Agriculture

The Agriculture Committee works on behalf of farmers, ranchers and rural Americans. It is responsible for the Farm Bill, agricultural trade, and other policies that affect our ability to grow and sell food and fiber.

Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management
Responsible for issues and markets pertaining to cotton, cottonseed, wheat, feed grains, soybeans, oilseeds, rice, dry beans, peas, lentils, the Commodity Credit Corporation, and risk management, which includes crop insurance, commodity exchanges, and specialty crops. Learn more here.

Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry
Responsible for issues pertaining to livestock, dairy, poultry, meat, seafood and seafood products, including the inspection, marketing, and promotion of such commodities. The Subcommittee jurisdiction also includes aquaculture, animal welfare, grazing, rural development, farm security, family farming matters and agricultural credit. Learn more here.

House Committee on Science, Space and Technology

The Science Committee is responsible for overseeing a range of programs at NASA, the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Science Foundation, the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The Committee promotes legislation that encourages scientific discoveries, space exploration and new technologies.