House Proposes New Select Committee to Investigate Cartels: No Legislative Power, Must Report Findings by 2026

A new resolution is moving through the House to create a special investigative body called the Select Committee to Defeat the Mexican Drug Cartels. Think of it as Congress creating a temporary, high-powered task force focused solely on figuring out how these cartels operate and what the governments—ours, Mexico’s, and others—are doing about them. The goal is to gather facts, not to pass laws.

The Committee’s Setup: Who’s on the Team?

This new committee will have up to 21 members, all appointed by the Speaker of the House. Even though the Speaker holds the cards, they have to consult with the minority leader, and no more than 10 members can come from the minority party. Crucially, the resolution mandates that the committee include at least one member from five heavy-hitter House committees: Appropriations, Judiciary, Homeland Security, Armed Services, and Financial Services. This ensures the group has expertise on everything from border security and law enforcement to military operations and money laundering. It’s a smart way to pull together different areas of expertise, but it also gives the Speaker significant power over who gets a seat at this high-profile table.

Investigative Power, Zero Legislative Clout

Here’s the straight truth: this committee is purely for investigation. It has absolutely zero power to write, vote on, or pass any laws or resolutions. Its job is to hold public hearings, dig into the cartels' networks, and analyze government responses. If you’re worried about a new committee adding more red tape, the good news is that its function is limited to fact-finding and making recommendations. The committee can hire staff, bring in outside consultants (with the Speaker’s approval), and even borrow personnel from federal agencies, meaning it will pull resources and people away from agencies already working on these issues.

What Happens to the Findings?

For those of us who care about transparency, the resolution includes strict deadlines for reporting. The committee must send all of its policy suggestions to the proper standing committees by the end of 2025 (December 31, 2025). The final, comprehensive report is due a year later, by December 31, 2026. The best part? The committee is required to make its reports and legislative ideas public in an easily accessible format within 30 days of those deadlines. While they can include a separate, classified annex for sensitive information, the bulk of the findings must be unclassified and shared with the public. This means we, the taxpayers, should get a clear, official look at what the cartels are doing and what the government thinks should be done to stop them.