House Energy and Commerce Committee honors Cathy McMorris Rodgers with portrait at U.S. Capitol

WASHINGTON - The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday unveiled a portrait honoring the Eastern Washington Republican who ascended to become the first woman to lead the influential panel before she left Congress in 2024.

Former Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers joins generations of men who have led the oldest legislative committee in Congress since it was established in 1795, and whose portraits adorn the walls of the panel's main hearing room at the U.S. Capitol. The turnout at the event reflected the influence she attained during a two-decade career that saw her rise to become one of the most powerful GOP lawmakers in Congress, as the four previous Republican speakers of the House all delivered remarks recalling their work together.

"Every chairman has a portrait. Not every one of them deserves it. Cathy deserves it," said former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. "A portrait lasts a long time, but a legacy of change lasts a lot longer."

Before curtains were pulled back to reveal the painting of McMorris Rodgers - which she said depicted her in front of an Eastern Washington sunset, wearing the red dress she wore at the 2012 Republican National Convention and holding a gavel inscribed with the words "In God We Trust" - she thanked everyone she worked with since she arrived at the Capitol in 2005.

"The highlight of serving in Congress has been the people that I met, that now are dear friends," she said. "You're amazing gifts in my life, and you represent the best of America. You always inspired me to work hard and do better."

The painting was funded by private donations through the U.S. Capitol Historical Society, not by taxpayer dollars.

Current House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., credited McMorris Rodgers for taking him under her wing when he arrived in Congress and eventually nominating him to become speaker, pulling together a GOP whose internal divisions had left the House without a leader for three weeks.

"The only person suitable for the job at that moment was the lady standing right here, because she is universally respected," Johnson said. "The only reason I'm speaker of the House is because Cathy nominated me. That's the truth of the matter."

McMorris Rodgers made history in 2021 as the first woman to lead either party on the Energy and Commerce Committee, whose sweeping jurisdiction includes the internet, health care, energy policy, telecommunications, environmental regulations and more. She became its chair when Republicans regained the House majority in 2023.

Despite party rules allowing McMorris Rodgers to remain at the helm for another two-year term - when Republican control of the House, Senate and White House would have made her especially powerful - she chose to retire from Congress at the end of 2024.

Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, the committee's top Democrat, described McMorris Rodgers as a trustworthy negotiating partner even when they disagreed on policy.

"When she shook your hand, you could take that to the bank," Pallone said.

Former Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, who began her career as a member of McMorris Rodgers' staff and went on to represent southwest Washington in the House as a Republican from 2011 to 2023, wasn't at the unveiling but said in a phone interview that her friend and former boss had a skillset that is increasingly scarce in Congress today.

"She had genuine respect and relationships from all different corners, and that's why she was able to move things," Herrera Beutler said. "She worked with people who were not necessarily her same political ideology, but they'd find something to work on. And the only way that is functional is if you treat people the way you want to be treated."

Two other Republicans who served as speaker of the House, John Boehner of Ohio and Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, shared pre-recorded video messages remembering their time working with McMorris Rodgers when she was the highest-ranking woman in party leadership. Their remarks recalled an era before the GOP was dominated by President Donald Trump, whose aggressive, zero-sum approach to politics stands in stark contrast with the one McMorris Rodgers embraced.

Asked after the event about Trump's ongoing attacks on Pope Leo XIV and the president posting an image depicting himself as a Jesus-like figure, McMorris Rodgers took a long pause before saying, "I was disturbed, and I was reminded that I needed to be praying for him."

The legislative accomplishments she and Pallone touted in their remarks also highlighted the limits of what even bipartisan work in the House can do.

"We took action to restore Article I responsibility as the elected representatives of the people," McMorris Rodgers said, but since Trump returned to office in 2025, Congress has deferred to an extraordinary degree to the president, whose powers are enumerated in Article II of the Constitution.

"We worked to protect our nation and our children from TikTok, a tool of the Chinese Communist Party," she said, referring to a major legislative victory she shepherded through Congress near the end of her last term.

But despite the Supreme Court upholding that law, the Trump administration didn't enforce it and eventually orchestrated a deal to create a U.S. entity owned in part by political allies of the president. Critics say that arrangement didn't resolve the original problem McMorris Rodgers identified: the fact that the wildly popular video platform's algorithm is still owned by a Chinese entity that may be subject to the influence of China's ruling party.

McMorris Rodgers and Pallone worked together to pass legislation in the House to make health care prices more transparent, to protect kids online and to ensure the privacy of Americans' personal data. But each of those bills died in the Senate, where procedural hurdles make it even harder for bipartisan legislation to become law.

Although much of the event focused on the past, McMorris Rodgers ended her remarks by looking to the future. She said the sunrise in the background of her portrait is meant to signify hope and joy in every new day, then concluded with the Hebrew word "shalom."

"It's not power, not position. It's 'shalom,' " she said. "And 'shalom' means peace, joy and purpose. So keep doing good. The best is yet to come."

This article was updated on April 17, 2026, to note how the portrait was funded.

Orion Donovan Smith's work is funded in part by members of the Spokane community via the Community Journalism and Civic Engagement Fund. This story can be republished by other organizations for free under a Creative Commons license. For more information on this, please contact our newspaper's managing editor.

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This story was originally published April 16, 2026 at 11:37 PM.