January 25, 2001 | Read Time: 1 minute
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Control of a key House committee that oversees government regulation of nonprofits has changed hands.
Rep. Bill Thomas, a California Republican, has been named the new chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Mr. Thomas replaces Rep. Bill Archer, a Texas Republican, who retired.
What the change will mean for charities is unclear since Representative Thomas has not had a prominent role on nonprofit issues.
Within the committee, Rep. Amo Houghton, a New York Republican, will continue to serve as chairman of the committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight, which is charged with watching over the Internal Revenue Service, including charity regulators.
Rep. Jim McCrery, a Republican from Louisiana, has been named chairman of the Ways and Means Committee’s Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures, a body that has recently been reformed to focus on tax matters.
The ranking Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee is Charles B. Rangel of New York.
In the Senate, the new chairman of the Finance Committee is Sen. Charles E. Grassley, an Iowa Republican. He replaces Sen. William V. Roth Jr., a Republican from Delaware.
The ranking Democrat on the committee is Max Baucus of Montana.
