The United States Senate Committee on Finance (or, less formally, Senate Finance Committee) is a standing committee of the United States Senate. The committee concerns itself with matters relating to taxation and other revenue measures generally, and those relating to the insular possessions; bonded debt of the United States; customs, collection districts, and ports of entry and delivery; deposit of public moneys; general revenue sharing; health programs under the Social Security Act (notably Medicare and Medicaid) and health programs financed by a specific tax or trust fund; national social security; reciprocal trade agreements; tariff and import quotas, and related matters thereto; and the transportation of dutiable goods. It is considered to be one of the most powerful committees in Congress.

History

<!-- Deleted image removed: thumb|Committee Chair [[Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Ranking Member Orrin Hatch (R-UT), greet Secretary of Treasury Jack Lew, center]] -->

The Committee on Finance is one of the original committees established in the Senate. First created on December 11, 1815, as a select committee and known as the Committee on Finance and an [sic] Uniform National Currency, it was formed to alleviate economic issues arising from the War of 1812. On December 10, 1816, the Senate officially created the Committee on Finance as a standing committee. Originally, the committee had power over tariffs, taxation, banking and currency issues and appropriations. Under this authority the committee played an influential role in the most heated topics of the era, including numerous tariff issues and the Bank War. The committee was also influential in the creation of the Department of Interior in 1849. Under the leadership of William Pitt Fessenden, the committee played a decisive role during the Civil War. Appropriating all funds for the war effort as well as raising enough funds to finance the war through tariffs and the nation's first income tax. Additionally, the committee produced the Legal Tender Act of 1862, the nation's first reliance on paper currency.

In 1865 the House of Representatives created an Appropriations Committee to relieve the burden from the Committee on Ways and Means. The Senate followed this example by forming the Senate Appropriations Committee in 1867. The committee also continued to play a role in the debate over income taxes. The repeal of the Civil War income taxes in the 1870s would eventually be raised in 1894 with the passage of a new income tax law. The Supreme Court's decision in ruled the income tax as unconstitutional, since it was not based on apportionment. The fight for an income tax finally culminated with the Payne–Aldrich Tariff Act of 1909. In order to pass the new tariff Senate leaders, including Chair Nelson Aldrich, allowed for a Constitutional Amendment to be passed. Four years later the 16th Amendment was officially ratified and in 1913 the nation's first peacetime income tax was instituted.

Around that same time the committee lost jurisdiction over banking and currency issues to the newly created Committee on Banking and Currency. The committee did gain jurisdiction over veterans’ benefits when it successfully passed the War Risk Insurance Act of 1917. The act shifted pensions from gratuities to benefits and served as one of the first life insurance programs created under the federal government. This series of improved veteran benefits reached a crescendo in 1944 with the passage of the Servicemen's Readjustment Act. Senator Bennett "Champ" Clark, who served as the chair of the Subcommittee on Veterans, assured smooth sailing of the bill through the Senate. The bill not only ended the usual demands from returning veterans that had been seen in nearly every war the US had participated in, but also provided more generous benefits than veterans had previously received, including funds for continuing education, loans and unemployment insurance.

Not all Finance Committee legislation was as well received as the G.I. Bill. At the beginning of the Great Depression the committee passed the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act. The act greatly increased tariffs and had a negative effect on the nation's economy. Following traditional economic practices the members of the committee, including Chair Reed Smoot, felt that protection of American businesses was required in order to buoy them during the dire economic times. The effort backfired and the economic situation worsened. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff would eventually be replaced by the Reciprocal Tariff Act of 1934 which authorized the president to negotiate trade agreements. This act not only set up the trade policy system as it exists today but also effectively transferred trade making policy from the Congress to the president.

The committee also played an important role in two major acts created under the New Deal. The committee received jurisdiction over the National Industrial Recovery Act because of tax code changes in the bill. The new bureaucracy was President Franklin D. Roosevelt's attempt to stimulate the economy and promote jobs for unemployed Americans while also regulating businesses. The National Recovery Administration would ultimately fail as it lost public support, but the act served as a springboard for the Wagner Act and the National Labor Board.

Probably the largest and most lasting pieces of legislation shaped by the Finance Committee during the New Deal was the 1935 Social Security Act. Once again, the committee received jurisdiction owing to the payroll taxes that would be enacted to pay for the new program. The act was the first effort by the federal government to provide benefits to the elderly and the unemployed, leading to enhanced economic welfare for many elderly Americans.

In 1981, a Senate Resolution required the printing of the history of the Committee on Finance. A wide array of senators with differing policy interests seek membership on the committee due to its broad role in setting fiscal, tax, trade, health, and social policy.

Members, 119th Congress

{|class=wikitable

!Majority

!Minority

|-

| valign=top |

  • Mike Crapo, Idaho, Chair
  • Chuck Grassley, Iowa
  • John Cornyn, Texas
  • John Thune, South Dakota
  • Tim Scott, South Carolina
  • Bill Cassidy, Louisiana
  • James Lankford, Oklahoma
  • Steve Daines, Montana
  • Todd Young, Indiana
  • John Barrasso, Wyoming
  • Ron Johnson, Wisconsin
  • Thom Tillis, North Carolina
  • Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee
  • Roger Marshall, Kansas

| valign=top |

  • Ron Wyden, Oregon, Ranking Member
  • Maria Cantwell, Washington
  • Michael Bennet, Colorado
  • Mark Warner, Virginia
  • Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island
  • Maggie Hassan, New Hampshire
  • Catherine Cortez Masto, Nevada
  • Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts
  • <span >Bernie Sanders, Vermont</span>
  • Tina Smith, Minnesota
  • Ben Ray Lujan, New Mexico
  • Raphael Warnock, Georgia
  • Peter Welch, Vermont

|}

Subcommittees

{|class=wikitable

!Subcommittee

!Chair

!Ranking Member

|-

|Energy, Natural Resources, and Infrastructure

|James Lankford (R-OK)

|Maria Cantwell (D-WA)

|-

|International Trade, Customs, and Global Competitiveness

|John Cornyn (R-TX)

|Raphael Warnock (D-GA)

|-

|Health Care

|Todd Young (R-IN)

|Maggie Hassan (D-NH)

|-

|Social Security, Pensions, and Family Policy

|Chuck Grassley (R-IA)

|Bernie Sanders (I-VT)

|-

|Taxation and IRS Oversight

|John Barrasso (R-WY)

|Michael Bennet (D-CO)

|-

|Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Growth

|Ron Johnson (R-WI)

|Tina Smith (D-MN)

|}

Committee leadership

Former chairs and ranking members are below.

Chairs

{|class="wikitable sortable"

!Name

!Party

!State

!Start

!End

|-

|

| |Democratic-Republican

|Tennessee

|1815

|1818

|-

|

| |Democratic-Republican

|Virginia

|1818

|1819

|-

|

| |Democratic-Republican

|New York

|1819

|1821

|-

|

| |Democratic-Republican

|Maine

|1821

|1822

|-

|

| |Democratic-Republican

|Pennsylvania

|1822

|1823

|-

|rowspan=3 |

| |Democratic-Republican<br />(1823–1824)

|rowspan=3 |Maryland

|rowspan=3 |1823

|rowspan=3 |1832

|-

| |Crawford Democratic-Republican<br />(1824–1825)

|-

| |Jacksonian<br />(1825–1832)

|-

|

| |Jacksonian

|Georgia

|1832

|1833

|-

|

| |Anti-Jacksonian

|Massachusetts

|1833

|1836

|-

|rowspan=2 |

| |Jacksonian<br />(1836–1837)

|rowspan=2 |New York

|rowspan=2 |1836

|rowspan=2 |1841

|-

| |Democratic<br />(1837–1841)

|-

|

| |Whig

|Kentucky

|colspan=2 align=center |1841

|-

|

| |Whig

|Maine

|1841

|1845

|-

|

| |Democratic

|New Hampshire

|colspan=2 align=center |1845

|-

|

| |Democratic

|South Carolina

|1845

|1846

|-

|

| |Democratic

|Alabama

|1846

|1847

|-

|

| |Democratic

|New Hampshire

|1847

|1849

|-

|

| |Democratic

|New York

|1849

|1850

|-

|

| |Democratic

|Virginia

|1850

|1861

|-

|

| |Democratic

|Maryland

|colspan=2 align=center |1861

|-

|

| |Republican

|Maine

|1861

|1864

|-

|

| |Republican

|Ohio

|1864

|1865

|-

|

| |Republican

|Maine

|1865

|1867

|-

|

| |Republican

|Ohio

|1867

|1877

|-

|

| |Republican

|Vermont

|1877

|1879

|-

|

| |Democratic

|Delaware

|1879

|1881

|-

|

| |Republican

|Vermont

|1881

|1893

|-

|

| |Democratic

|Indiana

|1893

|1895

|-

|

| |Republican

|Vermont

|1895

|1898

|-

|

| |Republican

|Rhode Island

|1898

|1911

|-

|

| |Republican

|Pennsylvania

|1911

|1913

|-

|

| |Democratic

|North Carolina

|1913

|1919

|-

|

| |Republican

|Pennsylvania

|1919

|1921

|-

|

| |Republican

|North Dakota

|1921

|1923

|-

|

| |Republican

|Utah

|1923

|1933

|-

|

| |Democratic

|Mississippi

|1933

|1941

|-

|

| |Democratic

|Georgia

|1941

|1947

|-

|

| |Republican

|Colorado

|1947

|1949

|-

|

| |Democratic

|Georgia

|1949

|1953

|-

|

| |Republican

|Colorado

|1953

|1955

|-

|

| |Democratic

|Virginia

|1955

|1965

|-

|

| |Democratic

|Louisiana

|1965

|1981

|-

|

| |Republican

|Kansas

|1981

|1985

|-

|

| |Republican

|Oregon

|1985

|1987

|-

|

| |Democratic

|Texas

|1987

|1993

|-

|

| |Democratic

|New York

|1993

|1995

|-

|

| |Republican

|Oregon

|colspan=2 align=center |1995

|-

|

| |Republican

|Delaware

|1995

|2001

|-

|

| |Democratic

|Montana

|colspan=2 align=center |2001

|-

|

| |Republican

|Iowa

|colspan=2 align=center |2001

|2003

|-

|

| |Republican

|Iowa

|2003

|2007

|-

|

| |Democratic

|Montana

|2007

|2014

|-

|

| |Democratic

|Oregon

|2014

|2015

|-

|

| |Republican

|Utah

|2015

|2019

|-

|

| |Republican

|Iowa

|2019

|2021

|-

|

| |Democratic

|Oregon

|2021

|2025

|-

|

| |Republican

|Idaho

|2025

|present

|}

Ranking Members

{|class="wikitable sortable"

!Name

!Party

!State

!Start

!End

|-

|

| |Democratic

|Georgia

|1947

|1949

|-

|

| |Republican

|Colorado

|1949

|1953

|-

|

| |Democratic

|Georgia

|1953

|1955

|-

|

| |Republican

|Colorado

|1955

|1957

|-

|

| |Republican

|Pennsylvania

|1957

|1959

|-

|

| |Republican

|Delaware

|1959

|1970

|-

|

| |Republican

|Utah

|1970

|1974

|-

|

| |Republican

|Nebraska

|1975

|1979

|-

|

| |Republican

|Kansas

|1979

|1981

|-

|

| |Democratic

|Louisiana

|1981

|1987

|-

|

| |Republican

|Oregon

|1987

|1995

|-

|

| |Democratic

|New York

|1995

|2001

|-

|

| |Republican

|Iowa

|colspan=2 align=center |2001

  • Andy Kim, New Jersey (from December 10, 2024)

| valign="top" |

  • Mike Crapo, Idaho, Ranking Member
  • Chuck Grassley, Iowa
  • John Cornyn, Texas
  • John Thune, South Dakota
  • Tim Scott, South Carolina
  • Bill Cassidy, Louisiana
  • James Lankford, Oklahoma
  • Steve Daines, Montana
  • Todd Young, Indiana
  • John Barrasso, Wyoming
  • Ron Johnson, Wisconsin
  • Thom Tillis, North Carolina
  • Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee

|}

;Subcommittees

{|class=wikitable

!Subcommittee

!Chair

!Ranking Member

|-

|Energy, Natural Resources, and Infrastructure

|Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)

|James Lankford (R-OK)

|-

|International Trade, Customs, and Global Competitiveness

|Tom Carper (D-DE)

|John Cornyn (R-TX)

|-

|Health Care

|Ben Cardin (D-MD)

|Steve Daines (R-MT)

|-

|Social Security, Pensions, and Family Policy

|Sherrod Brown (D-OH)

|Thom Tillis (R-NC)

|-

|Taxation and IRS Oversight

|Michael Bennet (D-CO)

|John Thune (R-SD)

|-

|Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Growth

|Maggie Hassan (D-NH)

|Chuck Grassley (R-IA)

|}

117th Congress

{|class=wikitable

!Majority

!Minority

|-

| valign=top |

  • Ron Wyden, Oregon, Chair
  • Debbie Stabenow, Michigan
  • Maria Cantwell, Washington
  • Bob Menendez, New Jersey
  • Tom Carper, Delaware
  • Ben Cardin, Maryland
  • Sherrod Brown, Ohio
  • Michael Bennet, Colorado
  • Bob Casey, Pennsylvania
  • Mark Warner, Virginia
  • Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island
  • Maggie Hassan, New Hampshire
  • Catherine Cortez Masto, Nevada
  • Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts

| valign=top |

  • Mike Crapo, Idaho, Ranking Member
  • Chuck Grassley, Iowa
  • John Cornyn, Texas
  • John Thune, South Dakota
  • Richard Burr, North Carolina
  • Rob Portman, Ohio
  • Pat Toomey, Pennsylvania
  • Tim Scott, South Carolina
  • Bill Cassidy, Louisiana
  • James Lankford, Oklahoma
  • Steve Daines, Montana
  • Todd Young, Indiana
  • Ben Sasse, Nebraska
  • John Barrasso, Wyoming

|}

;Subcommittees

{|class=wikitable

!Subcommittee

!Chair

!Ranking Member

|-

|Energy, Natural Resources, and Infrastructure

|Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)

|James Lankford (R-OK)

|-

|International Trade, Customs, and Global Competitiveness

|Tom Carper (D-DE)

|John Cornyn (R-TX)

|-

|Health Care

|Ben Cardin (D-MD)

|Steve Daines (R-MT)

|-

|Social Security, Pensions, and Family Policy

|Sherrod Brown (D-OH)

|Thom Tillis (R-NC)

|-

|Taxation and IRS Oversight

|Michael Bennet (D-CO)

|John Thune (R-SD)

|-

|Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Growth

|Maggie Hassan (D-NH)

|Chuck Grassley (R-IA)

|}

116th Congress

{|class=wikitable

!Majority

!Minority

|-

| valign=top |

  • Chuck Grassley, Iowa, Chair
  • Mike Crapo, Idaho
  • John Cornyn, Texas
  • John Thune, South Dakota
  • Richard Burr, North Carolina
  • Rob Portman, Ohio
  • Pat Toomey, Pennsylvania
  • Tim Scott, South Carolina
  • Bill Cassidy, Louisiana
  • James Lankford, Oklahoma
  • Steve Daines, Montana
  • Todd Young, Indiana
  • Ben Sasse, Nebraska

| valign=top |

  • Ron Wyden, Oregon, Ranking Member
  • Debbie Stabenow, Michigan
  • Maria Cantwell, Washington
  • Bob Menendez, New Jersey
  • Tom Carper, Delaware
  • Ben Cardin, Maryland
  • Sherrod Brown, Ohio
  • Michael Bennet, Colorado
  • Bob Casey, Pennsylvania
  • Mark Warner, Virginia
  • Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island
  • Maggie Hassan, New Hampshire
  • Catherine Cortez Masto, Nevada

|}

;Subcommittees

{|class=wikitable

!Subcommittee

!Chair

!Ranking Member

|-

|Energy, Natural Resources, and Infrastructure

|Tim Scott (R-SC)

|Michael Bennet (D-CO)

|-

|Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Growth

|Bill Cassidy (R-LA)

|Maggie Hassan (D-NH)

|-

|Health Care

|Pat Toomey (R-PA)

|Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)

|-

|International Trade, Customs, and Global Competitiveness

|John Cornyn (R-TX)

|Bob Casey Jr. (D-PA)

|-

|Taxation and IRS Oversight

|John Thune (R-SD)

|Mark Warner (D-VA)

|-

|Social Security, Pensions, and Family Policy

|Rob Portman (R-OH)

|Sherrod Brown (D-OH)

|}

Source

115th Congress

{|class=wikitable style=nowrap

!Majority

!Minority

|-

| valign=top |

  • Orrin Hatch, Utah, Chair
  • Chuck Grassley, Iowa
  • Mike Crapo, Idaho
  • Pat Roberts, Kansas
  • Mike Enzi, Wyoming
  • John Cornyn, Texas
  • John Thune, South Dakota
  • Richard Burr, North Carolina
  • Johnny Isakson, Georgia
  • Rob Portman, Ohio
  • Pat Toomey, Pennsylvania
  • Dean Heller, Nevada
  • Tim Scott, South Carolina
  • Bill Cassidy, Louisiana

| valign=top |

  • Ron Wyden, Oregon, Ranking Member
  • Debbie Stabenow, Michigan
  • Maria Cantwell, Washington
  • Bill Nelson, Florida
  • Bob Menendez, New Jersey
  • Tom Carper, Delaware
  • Ben Cardin, Maryland
  • Sherrod Brown, Ohio
  • Michael Bennet, Colorado
  • Bob Casey, Pennsylvania
  • Mark Warner, Virginia
  • Claire McCaskill, Missouri

|}

References

  • (Archive)
  • Senate Finance Committee. Legislation activity and reports, Congress.gov.
  • History of the Committee on Finance; United States Senate (pdf). 4th ed. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1981.