The youth movement among House Democrats? Don't believe the hype.

Even as a few Democratic committee heads are being pushed aside for younger replacements, the party is elevating some of its most senior members to lead virtually every major committee in the next Congress.

On Wednesday, the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee confirmed the ranking member positions for the senior lawmakers of four top committees — Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, Financial Services, and Appropriations.

That puts Reps. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), 75; Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), 73; Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), 86; and Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), 81, in some of the most prominent seats to confront the incoming Trump administration next year.

None of them faced competition from younger members.

And the trend will continue on Monday, when the Steering and Policy panel is scheduled to fill out its committee roster, which will keep a number of veteran lawmakers in the ranking member spots they currently hold.

That list includes Reps. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), 76, at the top of the Homeland Security Committee; Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.), 71, as ranking member of the Small Business Committee; Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), 76, on the Science, Space and Technology Committee; and Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), 71, on the Foreign Affairs Committee.

All of this runs counter to the narrative — popular among Washington's chattering class — that a young and restive crop of Democrats is clamoring to scrap the seniority system that’s guided the party’s committee-selection process for years.

To be sure, younger........

© The Hill