Top row, from left: Reps. Aaron Bean, Gabe Evans, Julie Fedorchak. Bottom: Nick Langworthy, Nathaniel Moran, Rudy Yakym. Photos: Getty Images
Some of the junior Republicans joining the House Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce committees have experience in health policy debates or a personal interest in behavioral health, nutrition and other issues.
Why it matters: Both House panels will be central to pushing a Republican health care agenda in the 119th Congress, and will likely have a hand in crafting health care policies if they land in a reconciliation package.
Here's a look at whom to know:
Ways and Means Committee
The GOP Steering Committee appointed four new members: Reps. Aaron Bean, Max Miller, Nathaniel Moran and Rudy Yakym. All are fairly new to Congress, just entering their second or third terms.
Rep. Aaron Bean:
- Bean served in the Florida legislature for years before running for Congress, and while there was chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee on health and human services.
- He's also one of three chairs of the DOGE Caucus that's slated to help assist Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy's government efficiency effort, which could touch health programs.
- Bean has also been a member of the House Education and Workforce Committee's health subcommittee, where he's sponsored legislation focused on banning facility fees and other payments added for telehealth services in ERISA.
- He's also been active as a volunteer for the National Association on Mental Illness, per his website.
Rep. Nathaniel Moran:
- Moran's background includes serving as a member of the Tyler (Texas) City Council and as a county judge. During his time in local office he was appointed to the Texas Judicial Commission on Mental Health for his work in that policy area, and served as an emergency management director for his county.
- In his one term on the Hill, he cosponsored legislation that would have overturned the Biden administration's nursing home rule, delayed Medicaid DSH cuts and allowed Medicare coverage of cancer screening tests. He's also been active in the home health and hospice care space. Two of those bills were marked up and approved out of Ways and Means in the last Congress.
Rep. Rudy Yakym:
- Yakym won the special election to succeed former Rep. Jackie Walorski, who died in a car crash in 2022.
- He's a member of the House Budget Committee, where he worked with Chair Jodey Arrington to push for a balanced budget and reducing federal spending.
- Yakym has also cosponsored health care legislation on rolling back restrictions on physician-owned hospitals, the Medicare Advantage prior authorization reform bill and the Treat and Reduce Obesity Act.
Energy and Commerce Committee
The GOP Steering Committee selected 10 new members to the Energy and Commerce panel, including several freshmen members — a rare occurrence.
Rep. Nick Langworthy:
- Langworthy is a founding member of the recently formed Make America Healthy Again Caucus. He has noted that his western New York district, which includes many farms, has a need to "put healthy, nutritious food on dinner tables across America."
- He's also been a member of the House Oversight Committee's health care and financial services subcommittee.
- Langworthy has cosponsored health legislation focused on 9/11 survivors' health care, overturning the Biden nursing home rule and on expanding HSA benefits.
Rep. Gabe Evans:
- Evans is a freshman who was appointed to the committee after defeating former Rep. Yadira Caraveo, one of the few Democratic doctors in the House, in a race that had some health care themes.
- Evans was a Colorado state representative who's cited his kids' health care conditions as the basis for his policy views during the campaign, including the need to maintain protection of preexisting conditions.
- He also says he supports cutting red tape through initiatives like the "gold card" program, which allows trusted doctors to skip preauthorization approval requirements, or expanding the kind of care that physician assistants can provide.
Rep. Julie Fedorchak:
- Fedorchak is another first-term lawmaker who's emphasized improving rural and veterans' health care options, such as expanding telehealth and mental health services.
- She's also said she's open to supporting a federal abortion ban, as long as states can continue to also regulate the procedure.
- Fedorchak has also shared that her father has Alzheimer's disease.
What we're watching: The House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee was slated to meet today to select new committee members, but it may be delayed because of the snowstorm, per Democratic aides.
