DeLauro, If Re-Elected, Poised for Run at Key Post in U.S. House

It’s anybody’s guess how this Fall’s Congressional elections will turn out, and which party will achieve a majority in the Senate and House.  But the jockeying is well underway for leading roles, including one that insiders already know will be up for grabs - Chair of the powerful Appropriations Committee in the House, if the Democrats retain their majority.

That could be good news for Connecticut, according to published reports.

The incumbent Chair, Congresswoman Nita Lowey of New York, is not seeking re-elction serving since 1989.  The leading choices to succeed her leading the committee are Reps. Rosa DeLauro of the New Haven-centered 3rd Connecticut Congressional District, Marcy Kaptur of Ohio and Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, a recent Roll Call story explained.

 “DeLauro’s particularly close friendship with Lowey and Speaker Nancy Pelosi was touted more than once,” during committee sessions, Roll Call reported. DeLauro has made her interest in the post known since last Fall.

“We were known as the DeLoSis — DeLauro, Lowey and Pelosi. Oftentimes they would see us on the floor and say, ‘What are they scheming?’ And we were scheming,” DeLauro told the publication.

DeLauro, according to Roll Call, has pledged to eliminate the Hyde amendment, a spending bill rider dating back to 1976 that prevents federal funding for abortions with limited exceptions. Critics say it unfairly targets low-income women because of their reliance on public health programs like Medicaid, the publication reported.

“We are in a moment to reckon with the norm, with tradition and view it through the lens of racial justice,” DeLauro said. “So although the bill includes the Hyde amendment this year, let me be clear, we will fight to remove the Hyde amendment.”

At the same time, DeLauro is seeking re-election this year, less than 100 days from now.  And recent reports in Connecticut indicate that her campaign coffers aren’t keeping pace with her Republican opponent, Margaret Streicker.

CT Mirror reported last week that DeLauro’s challenger, a Milford-based real estate company owner, ended the second quarter of the year with $456,443 in cash-on-hand in her campaign account. Meanwhile, DeLauro, a Democrat who has represented the New Haven-based 3rd congressional district since 1991, had less than $288,000 in campaign cash at the end of the second quarter.

Based on a review of FEC filings by Roll Call, DeLauro is focused not only on her district, but elsewhere.  She has reportedly raised nearly $1.5 million through her campaign committee and PAC this cycle, while distributing around $525,000 of that to various Democratic campaigns and causes. Including money she’s raised on others’ behalf, DeLauro’s campaign said she’s brought in roughly $900,000 so far for Democratic candidates, according to Roll Call.

Their reporting indicates that she’s been stepping up her giving of late, with $86,000 distributed in June alone through her leadership PAC to about 60 House campaigns, marking the PAC’s biggest giving month of the cycle. But DeLauro diminished her accounts by doing so, and had $307,000 left as of June 30, including $19,500 in her PAC, Roll Call noted.

More than half the money Streicker has raised to challenge DeLauro has come out of her own pocket, according to The Mirror, reporting that she has loaned her campaign $350,000.

“Rosa is grateful for the support, the majority of which comes from her constituents in her district,” DeLauro campaign manager Sarah Locke told CT Mirror. “She is devoted to using these funds to elect and re-elect members of the House to maintain a Democratic majority. This is vital to achieve the critical changes this country needs.”

If she accedes to lead the House Appropriations Committee, DeLauro will be among those at the center of that effort.