If the Democrats take control of the House in January, as they are expected to do, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, would likely become chair of the panel. His track record suggests that he would generally support Israel, experts told JNS.
There is a “general rule of seniority” in selecting leaders of House committees, according to David Luchins, chair of the political science department at Touro University’s Lander College for Women.
The chair usually goes to the most senior member of the committee, unless there’s a challenge.
“Hardly ever is there a challenge, because people want when their time comes that they become a chair also,” Luchins told JNS. “It’s happened maybe 10 times in the last 50 years.”
Democrats tend to follow that rule of seniority “more strictly” than do Republicans, but even though there is “a little more leeway” on the GOP side, Republicans tend to follow the same rules, according to Luchins.
The professor expects that Meeks will be the chair of the committee after the midterm elections and will replace Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.), the current chair. (JNS sought comment from Meeks and Mast.)
Tyler Stapleton, senior director of government relations at FDD Action, a Foundation for Defense of Democracies affiliate, told JNS that after the midterms, a Democratic steering committee will likely select Meeks as the panel chair. The caucus will hold a vote to confirm that.
“Unless Meeks is interested in another committee, there is an almost certain chance he will be House Foreign Affairs Committee chair,” Stapleton said.
Dan Schnur, who lectures on political science at multiple schools, including University of California, Berkeley, told JNS that neither Mast nor Meeks appear to have a credible challenger to the top-ranking positions on the committee.
But the selection process “could become a point of disagreement,” as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) “works to attract progressive support to become speaker,” according to Schnur.
Meeks is generally considered pro-Israel, but “he has not always voted in Israel’s interest,” Schnur said.
In September, Meeks stated that he wouldn’t approve the Trump administration’s proposed $2.8 billion sale of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel out of concern about how they “will be used by the Netanyahu government in accordance with U.S. law and with appropriate protections for civilians.”
“In this political environment, he may be as reliable a supporter as possible that the Democratic caucus would sign off on for the position,” Schnur told JNS.
“Given the broad shift in public and political opinion regarding Israel that has taken place in recent years, Meeks is probably the best possible realistic option,” he said.
Stapleton told JNS that “Meeks has quietly supported Israel throughout the war post-Oct. 7.”
“He has largely allowed weapon sales and other support to flow to Israel. Meeks has been openly critical towards the Netanyahu government and the president’s Board of Peace,” he told JNS.
“It is likely in a Democratically-controlled House he will be pressured to take a harder line on weapon sales to Israel and would likely allow votes on sanctions bills that would target Israeli officials for policies pursued in the West Bank and Gaza,” Stapleton said.
Mast, the current panel chair, has “been a loyal ally of the president and largely aligned with his foreign policy goals,” Stapleton told JNS. “Partial disagreements have arisen on items like Syria sanctions policy. Mast has largely defended the administration’s vision for cuts to the USAID and large parts of the State Department.”
Mast, who has said that he is the only member of Congress to don both U.S. and Israeli military uniforms, “worked to move major pieces of Iran sanctions legislation which have been successful while failing to reach any bipartisan agreement on a revamped State Department reauthorization,” Stapleton said.
Luchins told JNS that Meeks is a “strong friend of Israel” and is “very tight with the Jewish community.”
He has seen Meeks speak to Jewish groups several times, and he attended an Orthodox Union event 10 years ago in which the group honored Meeks.
“He said all the right things, touched all the right buttons,” Luchins said. “People loved it.”
Luchins doesn’t think that there would be much of a difference in the committee’s approach to Israel-related matters if Meeks became chair but thinks that the committee is “really quite irrelevant.”
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approves treaties and ambassadors, and the House Appropriations Committee allocates the money, he said.
The House foreign affairs panel “has less real power, but at the same time, it’s nice to have ranking people that are your friends,” he told JNS.
