Meet the Women Trying to Avoid a Spending Train Wreck in Congress

For the first time, the leaders of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees are all women, as is the top White House budget official. Can they avert a fiscal disaster? Theyre determined to try.

WASHINGTON Inside a grand committee room in the Capitol on a recent afternoon, Senator Patty Murray paused at the end of the 31-foot conference table to re-enact how, as a rank-and-file lawmaker years ago, she would have to stand up and wave to catch the attention of the men running negotiations from the center of the room.

Now it is Ms. Murray, Democrat of Washington, whose name is etched in gold cursive at the center of the table, set among frescoes of Roman goddesses and a multitiered crystal chandelier, signifying her position as the chairwoman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee. These days, she is part of the first-ever all-female team of Republicans and Democrats to lead the congressional committees that control government spending.

The groupwillplay apivotal role this year in what is expected to be an epic and high-stakes fiscal battle whose two principal players, President Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the California Republican, will meet for the first time on Wednesday to feel each other out for the coming fight.