WASHINGTON — The walls of Representative Richard Neal’s Capitol Hill office are covered with memorabilia — framed photos of him with famous politicians and commemorative copies of significant legislation he shepherded. One of his favorites is a vertical shot from the early 1990s of three dozen lawmakers seated on a long committee dais.
“As a very new member of the Ways and Means Committee, there I am on that front row,” Neal, 75, said one recent morning, pointing to a then-dark-haired version of himself. “I’m the last one [still here] from that picture.”
Such seniority and longevity aren’t particularly popular with House Democrats these days.
Younger members have pressed for more power after failing to win the majority in November in an effort many believe was dragged down by 82-year-old President Biden’s troubled performance before dropping out of the race. This month, three lawmakers in their 70s were toppled from their senior committee posts as part of internal leadership battles, and another veteran septuagenarian held off a strong challenge for an open slot from one of the youngest House Democrats, 35-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
But the push for generational change didn’t come close to reaching Neal, allowing him to retain his perch as the top Democrat on the powerful Ways and Means Committee.
The 17-term veteran, under fire just four years ago from some progressives upset he wasn’t more aggressively pursuing Donald Trump’s tax returns, faced no challenge. He was unanimously awarded two more years to add to his eight thus far leading Democrats on a panel that will be pivotal in major fights over taxes and tariffs in the incoming Trump administration next year.
“I put the record of what I established during the last 10 years against any member in the House of Representatives, with the exception of [former speaker] Nancy Pelosi,” said Neal, who is behind only her and three other House Democrats in tenure.
He reenacted the pitch he delivered during the two minutes allotted to make his case before the party’s internal steering committee that makes recommendations for committee posts.
“It was accomplishment upon accomplishment upon accomplishment,” Neal said, brandishing the long handwritten list on a note card he used, which included the Inflation Reduction Act and trillions of dollars in pandemic relief. “I laid out all of this to pretty enthusiastic applause in the room.”
House Democrats said Neal, who took office in 1989, continues to be effective and productive. He’s highly knowledgeable in arcane tax policy and legislative procedure. An old-school politician, Neal has a limited social media and TV presence but is a skilled, behind-the-scenes operator who often holds court at the back of the House chamber. He’s cultivated deep relationships among House colleagues and has scored points as a team player, raising millions of dollars for Democrats in competitive races.
And his colleagues on the Ways and Means Committee, where a leadership challenge would germinate, praise him.
“He works so closely with every member on the committee, and he has such great institutional background and knowledge, and is so inclusive, I couldn’t imagine anyone challenging him,” said longtime Representative John Larson, a Connecticut Democrat and committee member.
Even a critical story in October failed to trigger a leadership challenge.
Politico reported that Neal’s son, Brendan, who works for his campaign, also has been employed by lobbyists with business before Ways and Means. Neal has denied any wrongdoing and said he doesn’t discuss official business with his son, who never lobbied him or the committee.
Neal’s solid position is a big difference from the trouble he faced in 2019, when he became Ways and Means chairman after Democrats won control of the House.
The position included the power under a 1976 law to request copies of Trump’s tax returns, which he had refused to release in the 2016 campaign in a break with decades of precedent. Progressives pushed for Neal to act quickly, with one group even putting up billboards in his district demanding he “get Trump’s taxes now.”
Neal took a more judicious approach on the law, which has been used in the past for oversight and law-writing duties. Realizing the request would end up in court, Neal avoided TV interviews and slowly laid out a case for why his committee needed the returns to review the failure of the IRS to start an audit of Trump until two years into his presidency.
His slow action, combined with similar caution to join the early call for Trump’s first impeachment, led to a 2020 primary challenge from the left. Neal handily beat that back and believes his tactics on the tax returns were vindicated when he ultimately got them in late 2022, surviving legal challenges that went to the Supreme Court.
“Can you imagine if we had listened to some of them?” Neal said recently of his critics. “They wanted TV appearances, cable appearances. They wanted constant commentary.”
His methodical approach was an example of how experience matters atop Ways and Means, where it’s difficult to be performative and also be effective, he said.
“You’ve got to be taken seriously in the tax world,” Neal said. “It’s not rushing to the cable shows. It’s not rushing to social media.”
While House Republicans have six-year term limits on top committee posts, Democrats have no restriction. Neal has been the top Democrat on Ways and Means since late 2016 after he lost his own generational fight to a more senior colleague in a bid for the position in 2010.
The seniority system works, he said, “unless somebody is seriously impaired and . . . they clearly cannot manage the job anymore.”
His House Democratic colleagues, young and old, still believe Neal is still up to the task.
“He’s really good at his job,” said Representative Jake Auchincloss, 36, of Newton. “I don’t know how you make the case you do that [job] better.”
The successful House leadership challenges this month came against three aging, veteran Democrats who had health problems or were viewed as not fully up to the job as Trump takes office again.
“Only in Congress do I get to be young at 60 years old. It’s like the fountain of youth,” declared Representative Jared Huffman of California after he ascended to the top spot on the Natural Resources Committee. He succeeded Arizona Representative Raul Grijalva, 76, who underwent cancer treatment this year and voluntarily gave up the post when it became clear that Huffman would mount a serious challenge.
Similar changes took place on the Agriculture and Judiciary committees. They came after Pelosi, 84, and her old guard of House leaders stepped aside following the party’s loss of its majority in 2022. Replacing them were a younger trio that included current Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, 54, and minority whip Katherine Clark, 61, of Revere.
“House Democrats have clearly been in the midst of a generational transition,” Jeffries told reporters this month. But he specifically pointed to Neal and three others in their 70s or 80s who went unchallenged for top committee positions as evidence that House Democrats “continue to value the experience that many long-serving members of the caucus bring to the table.”
Neal hopes Democrats will win the majority in 2026 and he’ll be chosen to become chairman again.
Then, as he did when he led the panel from 2019 through 2022, he said he’ll have a picture taken of the committee members just like the one from the 1990s and hang them side-by-side in the gilded office the chairman gets in the Capitol building.
Jim Puzzanghera can be reached at jim.puzzanghera@globe.com. Follow him @JimPuzzanghera.