By Brian Faler, POLITICO
Democrats appear poised to retake the House, and Rep. Richard Neal is quietly making plans.
The Massachusetts Democrat has a clear path back into the chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee and, behind the scenes, he’s laying the groundwork for a second stint as his party’s point man on all things tax, as well as trade, health care and Social Security.
Democrats appear poised to retake the House, and Rep. Richard Neal is quietly making plans.
The Massachusetts Democrat has a clear path back into the chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee and, behind the scenes, he’s laying the groundwork for a second stint as his party’s point man on all things tax, as well as trade, health care and Social Security.
“There’s been conversations — for sure,” Neal said in an interview.
The last time Neal had the job, during President Donald Trump’s first term, he became the face of Democrats’ long-running bid to release Trump’s long-hidden tax returns — an ultimately successful fight that nevertheless came with loads of grief for the congenitally affable lawmaker.
Neal has never been progressives’ favorite, and many at the time were openly — and loudly — skeptical that his heart was in the tax return fight, which ended up at the Supreme Court in 2022. While Democrats were ultimately successful in releasing six years’ worth of Trump’s tax returns, the committee did not love how policing Trump’s tax returns eclipsed much of the rest of its work.
And though Trump is once again bucking the decades-old tradition of presidents voluntarily releasing their returns, Democrats see a long list of more pressing issues demanding the committee’s attention.
Among them: how Trump and his family have personally benefited from government decisions; Trump’s unusual $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS stemming from the leak of his tax returns by an agency contractor to the media; the IRS’s decision to share taxpayer information with the Department of Homeland Security for its mass deportation campaign; Frank Bisignano serving as the day-to-day head of the IRS in the novel — and unconfirmed — role of chief executive officer; and the ongoing fallout from the steep cuts to the agency’s workforce last year.
Neal is noncommittal about the prospect of once again forcing the release of Trump’s returns by tapping an arcane power allowing the heads of Congress’ tax committee to examine anyone’s private tax information.
“To be honest, we haven’t talked about that,” he said.
Some Ways and Means Democrats are skeptical about a replay of that fight.
“I’m not sure what the payoff was,” said Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), a senior member of the panel. “We shouldn’t be looking at his tax returns in a vengeful way anyway.”
Oversight to be a ‘big deal’
Democrats are also eager to shift the conversation in Congress back to the question of how much wealthy people pay in taxes, especially in the wake of Republicans’ 2025 tax cuts.
“Typically, oversight on Ways and Means isn’t that sexy of a role, but in the Trump administration, it will be a very big deal,” Beyer said. Expect “a lot,” he added.
Democrats hope to move legislation, too, though it won’t be easy finding agreement with Trump. But lawmakers will probably have to raise the federal debt limit next year, which could give them leverage to press their demands on the administration.
Near the top of their list: extending Obamacare health insurance subsidies, something lawmakers have battled over for months; re-upping wind, solar and other renewable energy tax provisions Republicans targeted last year in their “big, beautiful bill”; and a mishmash of temporary tax provisions that have expired, like the Work Opportunity Tax Credit.
There’s only so much Neal, 77, can plan out at the moment — and much will depend on what happens Nov. 3.
The committee’s agenda will look very different, for example, if Republicans hang onto control of the Senate, and Neal is negotiating with Finance Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), rather than Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), currently that panel’s ranking member who is also eager to reclaim leadership of the committee he once helmed.
New faces
Much will depend on the House results too.
Democrats already know they have to replace Reps. Lloyd Doggett of Texas and Danny Davis of Illinois, both of whom are retiring, as well as Del. Stacey Plaskett of the Virgin Islands, who is running for governor of the Caribbean territory. But two longtime tax writers, Reps. John Larson of Connecticut and Mike Thompson of California, are trying to fend off credible primary challengers.
Depending on the results of the election, Democrats could end up with somewhere in the neighborhood of a dozen seats to fill on the committee. Already, a line of lawmakers hoping to join the panel has begun to form. More than a dozen want on, including Reps. Marilyn Strickland of Washington, Morgan McGarvey of Kentucky and Tim Kennedy of New York.
Another big change in the offing: There will be a lot more women in charge.
Thanks to seniority, there could be, for the first time, women running four of the panel’s six subcommittees: Reps. Linda Sanchez of California, Terri Sewell of Alabama, Suzan DelBene of Washington and Judy Chu of California. Currently, there are none.
That will be an important milestone on a committee that has long been dominated by men, said Sanchez.
“We each bring lived experiences of what it’s like to struggle that many of our male colleagues will not understand because they haven’t been in our situations,” she said. “Having so many women moving up in seniority now means that we have an opportunity to use those perspectives and our legislative ideas to try to make things more balanced — to try to make things less tilted against women.”
