With the shifting of power in Congress too comes changing priorities – and when Republicans retake control of the House of Representatives in January 2023, a series of select committees launched by Democrats over the past several years will likely be no more.   

There are three types of committees created in each Congress: standing, select and joint. Standing committees are permanent and have set responsibilities and jurisdictions, while select committees – save some like the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence – are created on a case-by-case basis, and are generally not permanently renewed (though some span across several Congresses).

Joint committees, which include members from both chambers of Congress, tend to focus more on studies than considering legislation or governmental change.   

Some of the committees, like the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection on Capitol Hill, were always slated to end before the start of the 118th Congress. Others Democrats had hoped to keep, like the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, though Republican interest groups have long encouraged the party to disband the committee should they retake power.  

And the House of Representatives will, in all likelihood, form new committees to focus on their own issue areas. But Republicans are still in the process of selecting a new House Speaker, who will ultimately decide which lawmakers serve on select committees once they are greenlit.

Here are the select committees that will likely be sunsetted once Republicans take control of the House of Representatives, and some new panels they may announce:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., announced the special committee to investigate the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection on Capitol Hill in June of the same year, soon after the Senate blocked a move to form an outside commission on the topic. 

"Jan. 6 was one of the darkest days in our nation's history [...] it is imperative that we establish the truth of that day and ensure that an attack of that kind cannot happen and that we root out the causes of it all,” Pelosi wrote in a statement at the time.

Over a year later, the committee of seven Democrats and two Republicans has interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses, held nearly a dozen hearings and collected millions of documents as it worked to create the most comprehensive record of the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021.

The chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., has said the committee will make criminal referrals to the Justice Department recommending prosecution, but has not disclosed who the targets would be or whether former President Donald Trump would be among them. The committee has focused squarely on Trump and efforts by the-then president in the weeks before the attack to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

The committee on Wednesday is expected to release its final report, which could include hundreds of pages of findings about the attack and Trump’s efforts to subvert democracy. Committee members will review the highlights of their findings at the Monday meeting.

Thompson said this week that the committee could also approve other types of referrals, including for ethics violations, legal misconduct and campaign finance violations.

“Different strokes for different folks,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a member of the committee, recently told The Associated Press. “Everybody has made his or her own bed in terms of their conduct or misconduct.”

Recommendations on referrals were drafted by four lawyers on the committee: Raskin; Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, the Republican vice chair; and Reps. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., and Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. They were tasked with presenting the larger group with their referral recommendations, which the committee will consider Monday.

The Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth was created by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Dec. 30, 2020, saying it would be “a resource to the Congress to make policy related to economic fairness, access to education and workforce development.”

Over the past 18 months, the bipartisan committee – made up of eight Democrats and six Republicans – criss-crossed the country to produce a documentary that highlighted how different Americans achieved economic security, and the barriers to access they faced.

The documentary, dubbed “Grit & Grace: The Fight for the American Dream,” premiered at the National Archives on Tuesday. Alongside the film, committee members also released their final report after two years of holding meetings on Capitol Hill, which included a bipartisan series of policy recommendations lawmakers said have “bipartisan support in one form or another,” further recommending the next Congress “act immediately in these areas.”

The list of policy suggestions is lengthy, but includes a renewed investment in early childhood education, increasing the child tax credit, expanding access to paid family and medical leave, supporting small businesses and prioritizing affordable housing, among others.

In their own section of the report, Republicans blamed many financial hardships to President Joe Biden’s economic policies, saying there is “no greater economic threat to workers’ abilities to live the kind of lives they want than the current record-high inflation.

“The solution to getting inflation under control is getting spending under control and unleashing American energy,” committee Republicans wrote in part. “To get spending under control, lawmakers need to exercise fiscal discipline and prioritize spending on projects most effective in helping American workers and families.”

The GOP pointed to several member-led pieces of legislation that aim to address economic hardships, including the Financial Freedom Act of 2022, which would prevent the Department of Labor from restricting where workers can invest their 401(k) earnings, to the Fiscal Transparency Act, which would require government agencies to publicly disclose their annual spending.

Still, Republican members noted lawmakers had “reimagined this committee into a positive action plan for the next Congress,” adding: “The bills highlighted in this report represent an agenda that Members are committed to pursuing in the next Congress.”

On Wednesday, the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, a panel tasked with taking "urgent climate action," unveiled its final report​ along with recommendations for what Congress should focus on next.

The committee was created by Pelosi after Democrats won the House majority four years ago. Soon, it will no longer exist. 

"It's disappointing that Republicans in Congress have decided to dismantle our Climate Committee, because our work remains urgent," said Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., the panel's chair. "Climate disasters are inflicting billions in damages across the country." 

Among some of the recommendations the panel's final report calls for are zero-emission vehicle sale standards, advancing resilience-based codes and standards for communities at risk of disasters and increasing research on climate and public health impacts.

The committee asserts that more than 300 of their policy recommendations have been enacted through several key measures championed by President Joe Biden and passed by Congress, like the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, a bill aimed at boosting domestic semiconductor production, and the Inflation Reduction Act, Democrats' climate change, health care and tax reform bill.

Lawmakers touted tax credits for electric vehicles, funding for coastal resilience and infrastructure and job creation for clean energy.

"Today, we celebrate our accomplishments, but we also recognize the need to continue our work as outlined in the staff Majority Report," said Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore., another member of the panel.

"Even though the Select Committee will be ending, which is counterproductive to what we need to do, we are committed I know and I look forward to working with my colleagues in the 118th Congress to further these recommendations to protect our planet, to create good paying jobs, to support a just transition and to build more resilient and safe communities," Bonamici added.

Lawmakers also said they believe agriculture policy is an area where they may find bipartisan solutions in a divided Congress. ​

Spectrum News’ Corina Cappabianca contributed to this report. 

The Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress, also known as the Modernization Committee, was formed on Jan. 4, 2019 and was tasked with developing “recommendations to make Congress more effective, efficient, and transparent on behalf of the American people.” 

In mid-November, the committee issued its final series of recommendations, one of which was to make the Modernization Committee a permanent subcommittee under the Committee on House Administration.

Across both the 116th and 117th Congresses, the Modernization Committee issued 202 recommendations to Congress, over half of which were passed; 42 of the recommendations have been fully implemented, the report noted, while another 88 are partially implemented.

The final series of recommendations included a requirement to publish a regular report on which members voted late; to make available a voluntary new member welcome session at the beginning of the term and to “align travel related expense reimbursement rules for members with standard business travel practices in the private sector and other parts of the federal government,” among others. 

“This Committee has demonstrated that Republicans and Democrats can engage in constructive policy discussions and work together to find solutions that strengthen the institution,” committee vice chair Rep. William Timmons, R-S.C., wrote in part. “As we report out the totality of our findings to the House, along with several additional recommendations to encourage ongoing modernization, I hope we continue to look for opportunities to collaborate and help ensure that the People’s House remains well equipped to address our nation’s most pressing issues.”

Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who is vying to become House Speaker next Congress, has already floated the idea of a Select Committee on China and tapped Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., to lead the group. 

“The Chinese Communist Party is the greatest geopolitical threat of our lifetime. We need a whole-of-government approach that will build on the efforts of the Republican-led China Task Force and ensure America is prepared to tackle the economic and security challenges posed by the CCP,” McCarthy wrote in a statement last week. “That is why under a Republican majority, I will establish a Select Committee on China.”

Gallagher, who in turn accepted the role as chairman of the potential select committee, called the Chinese Communist Party the “greatest threat to the United States,” saying: “Even in divided government, we have an opportunity to build a united front against CCP aggression."

According to a report from POLITICO, House Republicans are also considering whether to re-up the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, which on Dec. 9 released its final report of the 117th Congress. The report focused heavily on the Trump administration’s failure to “quickly react to the looming threat of a new and unknown pathogen in early 2020,” saying the poor planning hampered the nation’s ability to deal with the pandemic. 

Republicans, however, would likely focus their efforts on the origin of the virus, and investigating possible misspent pandemic funds, per POLITICO.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.