Rice defeats Ocasio-Cortez for powerful energy and commerce committee seat

WASHINGTON — Long Island Rep. Kathleen Rice beat out Bronx Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a House Democratic steering committee battle Thursday for a seat on the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee, a victory for moderates.

Rice, a Garden City Democrat who will begin her fourth term in January, won an intense competition to fill the Energy and Commerce Committee seat reserved for a New Yorker by drawing 46 votes to Ocasio-Cortez’s 13 in a secret ballot, according to congressional sources.

"It’s an honor to be selected to serve on the Committee! I look forward to working on legislation that will help New York and our nation as we combat COVID-19 and build back our economy," Rice tweeted Friday.

"New Yorkers deserve a fighter to lower the cost of prescription drugs, address climate change, and improve our drinking water," she later said in a statement, adding that she looked forward to working with the Biden-Harris administration.

With Rice’s assignment to a committee that oversees nearly every significant policy area that Congress considers, from the economy and health care to energy and the environment, Democrats representing Long Island in the House will carry increased clout in the next Congress.

Rep. Thomas Suozzi of Glen Cove sits on the influential House Ways and Means Committee and Rep. Gregory Meeks of St. Albans will serve as chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee in a groundbreaking role as the first Black lawmaker to lead that panel.

The competition between Rice and Ocasio-Cortez grew out of the decision by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to name just four of five new Democratic members to the Energy and Commerce Committee, while leaving to a vote the seat reserved for a New Yorker.

Ten members originally vied for the spot, but it came down to a competition between the moderate Rice and the progressive Ocasio-Cortez.

This is the second time that Ocasio-Cortez has lost to a Long Islander in a bid to serve on a major committee: In 2018, Suozzi defeated her in a vote for a seat on the Ways and Means Committee.