Resolution

Resolves based on https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/about/members on March 1, 2023. Resolves YES if the committee majority contains more Democrat than Republican members and contains strictly more members than the committee minority. Resolves NO otherwise (including for example if the majority and minorities have equal size). Resolves N/A if it is substantially unclear.

Background

The 2021-2022 Senate is split 50/50 and operates under a power-sharing agreement where Democrats control the committee chairmanships but the committees are composed equally of Democrats and Republicans.

After the Democrats won their 51st seat in the Georgia runoff, the 2023-2024 Senate was expected to give them a strict majority, giving them more power over Senate operational and organizational matters, including a strict majority in committees (see e.g. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/06/us/democrats-georgia-senate-majority.html).

Senator Sinema's announcement that she is changing her party affiliation from Democrat to independent could affect the balance of power in the Senate.

Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is changing her party affiliation to independent, delivering a jolt to Democrats’ narrow majority and Washington along with it.

In a 45-minute interview, the first-term senator told POLITICO that she will not caucus with Republicans and suggested that she intends to vote the same way she has for four years in the Senate. “Nothing will change about my values or my behavior,” she said.

Provided that Sinema sticks to that vow, Democrats will still have a workable Senate majority in the next Congress, though it will not exactly be the neat and tidy 51 seats they assumed. They’re expected to also have the votes to control Senate committees.

This question asks whether the Democrats will control a strict majority of committee seats.

(I have chosen the Appropriations committee arbitrarily, I expect that this would likely be the same on all committees. The Senate session begins on Jan 3, I have chosen March 1 because last year it took until early Feb for the power-sharing agreement to be finalized.)

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