House Dems adding three new members to Ways and Means

As for Van Hollen, Levin added in a statement that the panel “will continue to benefit from his policy expertise on issues within the jurisdiction of the Ways and Means Committee.”

{mosads}The new members on the panel bring some added diversity to the Democratic side of Ways and Means, with the party’s lone woman on the committee, Rep. Shelley Berkley (Nev.), leaving Congress at the end of the year.

House Democrats have made their diversity a major selling point in recent weeks, with white men set to become a minority of the caucus in the upcoming Congress. “Our caucus looks like America,” Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said last week.

With his return, Davis will become the third black man on Ways and Means, joining Reps. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), a former chairman of the panel, and John Lewis (D-Ga.).

Sanchez becomes the lone Hispanic woman on the panel, and joins Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), the incoming chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, on the committee.

Sanchez tweeted this morning that he was “proud to rejoin” the committee.