Lee to lead Senate Energy committee next year

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) will lead the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee next year.

He’ll take over for the panel’s current top Republican, Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), who will become the upper chamber’s No. 2 Republican next year. 

Current Chairman Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) is retiring. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) will take over as ranking member. 

Neither Heinrich’s nor Lee’s appointment is a surprise. 

But Barrasso and Manchin announced Tuesday following a committee meeting that both lawmakers would take the panel’s top spots, and Manchin literally passed his gavel to Lee.

In a post on the social media website X, Lee also announced that he would helm the committee.

“Humbled and honored to take the gavel as the next Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee,” he wrote. “Time to get to work and unleash American energy.”

The Energy and Natural Resources Committee has jurisdiction over the Energy and Interior departments and a range of issues related to energy, conservation and public lands.