Meet the Ranking Member
This Congress, Frank Pallone, Jr. is serving his 19th full term in the U.S. House of Representatives. Pallone represents New Jersey's 6th Congressional District, which covers most of Middlesex County, as well as the Bayshore and oceanfront areas of Monmouth County.
Pallone is the Ranking Member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over health care, energy, environment, commerce, food and drug safety, consumer protection, and communications and technology. He previously served as Chairman from 2019-2022 when Democrats controlled the House and before that as the Committee’s Ranking Member from 2015-2018.
During the 117th Congress (2021-2022), as Chairman, Pallone was a leader in the fight to pass theInflation Reduction Act —the most significant climate law in our nation’s history and a law that finally empowers Medicare to negotiate the cost of lifesaving prescription drugs for seniors, something Pallone has championed for years. Pallone was also instrumental in the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that modernizes our infrastructure for the future and the CHIPS and Science Actto bolster our economy and boost our domestic manufacturing industry.
In the fiscal year 2023 omnibus, Pallone fought to provide the Food and Drug Administration with the tools and resources it needs to oversee the cosmetics industry, which Pallone first proposed over a decade ago, and to provide continuous coverage for children and new mothers through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. As the nation confronted the COVID-19 pandemic, Pallone also helped lead the passage of the American Rescue Plan to ramp up distribution of lifesaving vaccines and expand access to affordable health care coverage.
During the 116th Congress (2019-2020), Pallone played a pivotal role in passing legislation through Congress that provided the resources Americans desperately needed to combat the pandemic, including the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, and the Coronavirus Aid relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. He also authored bipartisan legislation that was enacted to protect Americans by ending surprise medical billing, reducing and blocking robocalls, replacing suspect foreign communications network equipment, and phasing down the production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons.
During the 115th Congress (2017-2018), as Ranking Member, Pallone fought to prevent Republicans from repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA), led efforts to pass bipartisan legislation for expanded opioid use disorder treatment, and helped reauthorize the Safe Drinking Water Act for the first time in 20 years.
In his first term as Ranking Member during the 114th Congress (2015-2016), Pallone led Democrats in passing key health care and environmental bills that were signed into law by President Obama, including the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, and the 21st Century Cures Act.
From 2007 to 2014, Pallone served as the top Democrat on the Subcommittee on Health. In 2010, as Subcommittee Chairman, Pallone played a key role in authoring and passing the ACA.
Pallone was born and raised in Long Branch, New Jersey, where he still resides. He is a graduate of Middlebury College, holds a master's degree in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and earned his law degree at Rutgers University. Pallone married his wife Sarah in 1992. They have three adult children: Rose, Celeste, and Frank.