The new junior Senator from the state of Missouri may be rankling some of his fellow members  just weeks into his tenure.

The former state attorney general sought a committee seat on the high-profile Judiciary committee, which hears Supreme Court and other federal court nominations among a host of areas of oversight.

The problem? Missouri already has a member on the panel in Sen. Josh Hawley. 

Politico reported this week that Schmitt went so far as to ask veteran lawmakers including Sen. Marsha Blackburn R-Tenn and Sen. Thom Tillis R-NC to step off the committee.

“I’m the only Republican woman on the Senate Judiciary Committee and I don’t intend to come off the committee,” Blackburn told Politico, adding that it was an issue for Schmitt and Hawley to work through.

The issue went to a vote of the GOP conference in the Senate Wednesday to grant Schmitt a waiver. A Hawley spokesperson confirms that he voted in favor of a waiver, but a Schmitt representative confirmed to Spectrum News that it failed.

“Senator Schmitt has had productive conversations throughout this process and is confident he will be able to fight for Missourians’ best interests with the committees he is selected to serve on,” his office said.

On Thursday, Sen. Tammy Duckworth's office announced her appointment to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. 

The committee assignment process continues to develop in the House with assignments of note to the St. Louis region. This week, Rep. Mary Miller R-Ill was again added to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce for a second term, and will be joined on the House Agriculture Committee by fellow Metro East Rep. Nikki Budzinski D-Ill where a big focus will be the coming reauthorization of the Farm Bill. Budzinski will also serve on House Veteran's Affairs, the committee chaired by another Metro East representative in the House, Rep. Mike Bost R-Ill.

Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer R-Mo was named to a new Select Committee focused on the competition between the U.S. and the Chinese Communist Party

“The CCP has a stated goal of overtaking the United States as the world’s superpower, and it has proven willing to do anything – from IP theft to forced child labor – to achieve that goal,” he said in a news release, adding that his focus would be on the “weaponization of China’s economy and its influence on ours.” 

Thursday night, Rep. Cori Bush D-Mo announced that she had been assigned for a second time to the House Oversight Committee. As a member in the majority in her first term, she worked through the committee to investigate Amazon's response to the deadly 2021 tornado that killed workers at the company's Edwardsville warehouse. In a statement released Thursday, she spoke out against some of the new GOP members added to the panel, including Rep. Lauren Boebert R-Co, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene R-Ga and Rep. Paul Gosar R-Az, who won spots on the coveted committee.

"These members represent the very antithesis of the intention behind this committee. If we cannot trust them to hold themselves accountable, how can we expect them to uphold accountability for others? I will not allow the self-interests of these MAGA Republicans to erode the integrity of our oversight work," Bush said.

Heartland Caucus

While committee assignments continue getting hashed out, new caucuses are also launching this week with a goal of pushing various legislative agendas. One of them is the Heartland Caucus, created by Rep. Debbie Dingell D-Mich and Rep. Marcy Kaptur D-Ohio, who saw that Democratic leadership posts have been dominated by lawmakers from New York and California. Budzinski is part of the new group.

"I very much believe that rural communities like the ones I have the opportunity, the privilege to represent deserve a seat at the leadership table on both sides of the aisle and that’s what really drew me to the work of the Heartland Caucus,” Budzinski said at a news conference earlier this week, calling for a focus on bringing manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. and to re-invest in rural communities. 

Marijuana on the April ballot

January 24 was the deadline for municipalities to add questions to the April 4 ballot in Missouri. More than 40 local governments in the St. Louis region will ask voters for permission to collect up to 3% in sales tax on adult-use marijuana, which is scheduled to begin in early February. While some municipalities have designated how the money collected would be spent, most have not. Voters will be asked the question countywide in the city of St. Louis, St. Louis County, St. Charles County and Lincoln County. Here’s a list of St. Louis area communities putting it on the ballot.