Upon his return to the House Appropriations Committee after an 18-year hiatus, Rep. James E. Clyburn, D-S.C., has one central focus: fighting poverty in rural counties.
It’s been a longtime focus of Clyburn, 84, who is back on the committee after nearly two decades serving in leadership. His committee seniority continued to build during that leave, and he’s now the top Democrat on the powerful Transportation-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee, which controls around $90 billion in annual spending.
As the longtime third-ranking House Democrat behind former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., Clyburn’s endorsement of former President Joe Biden during the 2020 campaign is widely considered crucial to Biden’s eventual win.
