Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee voted Thursday to return Rep. Henry Cuellar to his leadership position on a powerful spending panel following his pardon on federal corruption charges.
“We got ratified,” Cuellar told reporters following the vote.
The veteran Texas lawmaker overcame private concerns inside his party about restoring him as the top Democrat on the Homeland Security subpanel after President Donald Trump granted him clemency in a surprise move last week.
But Cuellar remains popular in the Democratic Caucus, particularly among longtime colleagues — some of whom argued that with the pardon wiping away his bribery indictment, the legal process had run its course and there was no reason to bar Cuellar from the post under caucus rules.
“Just look at the rules,” said Rep. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.). “There’s nothing more to say.”
Still, the fact that the vote even happened meant that at least one Democratic appropriator privately objected to reappointing Cuellar by acclamation. If his party retakes the House majority next year, Cuellar would be in line as subcommittee chair to directly oversee more than $60 billion in annual spending on agencies including Customs and Border Protection and ICE.
Democrats have made a high-profile push in recent weeks to police ethical transgressions in the party’s ranks. Nearly two dozen Democrats led by Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington broke ranks to reprimand Rep. Chuy García (D-Ill.) for apparently engineering his retirement announcement to ensure a favored ally would succeed him.
Illinois Rep. Lauren Underwood has served as the top Democrat on the subpanel since Cuellar’s indictment last year alleging he took some $600,000 in bribes from foreign entities. Cuellar has denied wrongdoing and cast his indictment under President Joe Biden as political retribution for his moderate immigration stances.
Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.
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