Rangel to be top Democrat on trade subcommittee

By Bernie Becker - 01/15/13 06:01 PM ET

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), once forced to step down as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, has bounced back to become ranking member of the panel’s trade subcommittee.

Rangel, first elected to the House in 1970, stepped aside as Ways and Means chairman in 2010 amid a swirl of ethics allegations, and was eventually censured by the full House.

The New York Democrat spent the last Congress as an ex officio member of all Ways and Means subcommittees, which meant he did not have voting privileges on those panels.

Rangel takes the top Democratic slot on the panel at a time when the U.S. is exploring avenues to increase trade in both Asia and Europe. Rep. Sandy Levin (Mich.), who took over as Ways and Means chairman in 2010, will remain the full committee’s top Democrat.

"Rep. Rangel has been very active in crafting trade policy over many years and expressed a strong interest in serving as Ranking Member on the Trade subcommittee,” Josh Drobnyk, a spokesman for Ways and Means Democrats, told The Hill in a statement.

Rep. Jim McDermott (Wash.), the former top Democrat on the trade subcommittee, has shifted over to become ranking member of the Ways and Means health subcommittee. Former Rep. Pete Stark (Calif.) had been the ranking Democrat on the health panel, before losing his bid for another term last year.

Four other Ways and Means Democrats will take the ranking member spot at the same subcommittees as the previous Congress.

Rep. Xavier Becerra (Calif.), the chairman of the House Democratic caucus, remains the ranking member at the Social Security subcommittee, while Rep. Lloyd Doggett (Texas) will be top Democrat at the Human Resources panel.

Reps. John Lewis (Ga.) and Richard Neal (Mass.) will hold the ranking member slots at the Oversight and Select Revenue Measures subcommittees, respectively.

Rangel was censured by the full House after the Ethics Committee found him guilty of, among other things, failing to pay all his taxes and fundraising violations.

On the trade front, President Obama could try to finish off a TransPacific free trade deal this year, and free trade talks with the European Union could also be on the horizon.

That’s likely to spark a debate over fast-track trade promotion authority in Congress, and could give the trade subcommittee a larger role in the coming months.

Ways and Means also has jurisdiction over a range of the fiscal issues that have dominated discussion in Congress in recent years, including the debt ceiling, Medicare, the tax code and welfare programs.