By Jim Kinney
masslive.com
(TNS)
SPRINGFIELD, MA — It’s a rare opportunity to become chair of the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal told reporters Wednesday.
Neal, D-Springfield, fresh off reelection to a 20th term in the House, is poised to do the job for the second time after the election of a new Democratic House majority.
The name “Ways and Means” originates in the English parliamentary system. Its power rests in the Constitution. The House has the power to tax.
“So we have responsibility for taxes, tariffs, Social Security, Medicare, the tax side of Medicaid, pensions, welfare and management of public debt,” Neal said at the post-election news conference. “Not a bad portfolio.”
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Early priorities for the new Congress include restoring tax credits from the Affordable Care Act, reversing trillions of dollars in Medicare cuts that endanger Massachusetts hospitals and holding hearings on the future of Social Security.
All with Donald Trump still in White House.
“I would be willing to test him immediately on the tariff issue, as well,” Neal said.
That would include repairing relationships with Canada, Massachusetts’ biggest foreign trading partner.
While Neal doesn’t want to focus exclusively on the past two years under Trump, he said his committee does have an oversight role and needs to look at what DOGE and its cuts and activities meant for Social Security and the Internal Revenue Service.
Massachusetts has had a member of the Ways and Means Committee for 75 years straight, Neal said.
Photo credit: Congressman Richard Neal/Facebook
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