DETROIT, MI – Last week, U.S. Senator Gary Peters (MI) announced his appointment to the Senate Appropriations Committee for the 118^th Congress. The Appropriations Committee is responsible for drafting the legislation that allocates federal resources to government agencies, our national defense, and organizations on an annual basis. Peters will also continue to Chair the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and serve on the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee.

See below for coverage and reactions to the news: 

Detroit Free Press: 

“U.S. Sen. Gary Peters…was named Thursday to the Senate Appropriations Committee, one of the most powerful committees in Congress.”

“…According to the Senate Historical Office, former U.S. Sen. Don Riegle, also a Democrat, was the last Michigan senator to serve on Appropriations, having been a member of the committee for about a month in 1977 before being switched to another committee. The last U.S. senator from Michigan to sit for a full Congress on the Appropriations Committee was Republican Charles Potter, who was a member from 1955 to 1959.”

“…Peters has also been recognized as one of the most effective and bipartisan senators in the chamber, getting 19 bills he authored over the last two years passed and signed into law, more than any U.S. senator in a single Congress in more than 40 years.”

The Detroit News: 

“U.S. Sen. Gary Peters has been appointed to the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee… the first Michigan senator to sit on the panel in decades.”

“…Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York made the announcement Thursday afternoon. Peters, D-Bloomfield Township, will remain chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs and will retain his seats on the Senate Commerce and Armed Services committees…”

U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (MI):

“A big win for Michigan!” 

David Coulter, Oakland County Executive:

“Big news for MI! This powerful finance committee has not had a full-time Michigan senator since the 1950s.” 

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