Sen. Bernie Sanders will be taking over the HELP committee, as it’s known, under a divided government with his party holding a tiny Senate majority.
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Sanders has already met with his incoming GOP counterpart, Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, about what they can do together. He’s also had a conversation with Collins about rural health care policy. In a separate interview, Cassidy specifically mentioned addressing the nursing shortage as a top priority for the panel.

Sanders has also met with Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who shares jurisdiction over many issues that the Vermonter is interested in addressing. Collins predicted that if Sanders concentrates more on rural health than Medicare for All, he’ll have more success.

And he’s got a tough act to follow: The panel’s recent track record under Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and retired Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) is impressive. The committee pushed through legislation fixing the No Child Left Behind education policy, cracking down on surprise medical bills and developing new treatments under the umbrella of the 21st Century Cures Act. It also played a huge rule in Congress’ pandemic response, an example of how the HELP Committee can be called upon in times of crisis.

Sanders comes in as a “chairman who’s running kind of independent of everybody,” including Democrats, said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), another member of the panel. “If you’re a good chairman, you’re going to listen to the priorities of all the folks on our committee. And hopefully he would do that.”

Many Republicans only know Sanders as a presidential candidate and Budget Committee chair during unified Democratic control, but he’s led legislative efforts under divided government before as Veterans Affairs Committee Chair in 2014. Democrats said that Sanders’ work at that time is more of a blueprint for how he’ll guide the HELP Committee in 2023.

“He’ll be a chairman who not only is putting the spotlight on issues he cares about, but also will do a lot of good bipartisan work. His record indicates that,” Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) said.

For now, Sanders is shrugging off his own reelection decision in 2024. He said his sole focus is on a chairmanship he’s been building toward since he was first elected to the Senate in 2006.

At the time, Sanders recalled, he asked the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) — then the HELP Committee chair — if he could get a seat on the panel. Kennedy intervened with the late Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to get Sanders that position, allowing his fellow New Englander to start building the seniority he needed to eventually lead the committee.

And now that Sanders is replacing Murray, he has a realistic view of what’s achievable with 51 Senate seats and a GOP House.

“We can achieve some good results working in a bipartisan manner,” Sanders said. “But I am not naive.”