The Armed Services Committees are not the only Congressional bodies to see their memberships upended by the midterm elections.

The Senate Appropriations Committee is facing big changes, mostly due to retirement. Even if Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) hangs on, five of the 13 Republicans and two of the 17 Democrats will be gone.

But the biggest changes (not surprisingly) are in the House. Of the 37 Democrats on the House Approps committee, eight lost this cycle and another three are retiring. This means they may not have to pare too many Democrats when the new apportionments come out (the Republicans had 23 members on appropriations in this Congress).

More than one-third of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Democrats are gone, including the long-serving chairman, James Oberstar (D-MN). Fifteen Committee Democrats lost and one retired out of the 45 on the committee.

But the biggest blowout was on the Agriculture Committee, where half of the Democrats are gone. Out of the 28 Democrats on the House Agriculture Committee, 13 lost and one (Brad Ellsworth of Indiana) ran for higher office (and lost).

These are all committees that TCS has concentrated on because they have big-dollar implications for discretionary spending (approps); highway, aviation and water projects bills (T&I), and the Farm Bill (Ag). The Agriculture Committee is also a haven for rural Democrats who fared poorly in the election. And T&I is often a landing spot for freshmen another endangered species on Tuesday.

The long-term impact will result from the abundance of fresh blood on these often spendthrift committees. New committees need to challenge the status quo of wasteful highway and farm bills, rein in earmarks and start moving the country back from the budgetary abyss. As always, TCS will be at the ready to make sure these steps are taken.