Rep. Mike Quigley lost his plum committee post earlier this year, and the Illinois Democrat hasn’t forgotten.
Speaking in an episode of the Pro Politics podcast published Monday, Quigley issued a sidelong rebuke to a pair of former top House Democratic leaders who claimed committee leadership roles after leaving Democratic leadership in 2022.
It’s personal for Quigley: He served as the ranking member on the House Appropriations subcommittee on Transportation-HUD until 84-year-old Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) gave up his leadership position earlier this year and bumped Quigley off of the panel.
It also comes amid an increasingly open debate over age and leadership inside the Democratic Party; Quigley, who is 66, was among the first House Democrats to call on President Joe Biden to step aside as presidential nominee in 2024.
”If you’ve been one of the top three leadership spots, you should hesitate wanting to come back and say, ‘I want to be a ranker or chair,” Quigley, a nine-term veteran, told Democratic pollster and podcast host Zac McCrary. “At some point you’ve had your moment, and it’s time to let someone come in and have an opportunity to be on one of those select committees and being a ranker or chair.”
Another senior appropriator who later joined leadership, Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, assumed the ranking member role on the Financial Services subcommittee in 2023 after exiting as majority leader at age 83, bumping Rep. Mark Pocan of Wisconsin, who is 25 years younger. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has not claimed any committee assignments since returning to the rank-and-file that same year.
