Sixteen private citizens serve on the United States Semiquincentennial Commission for America250.
The establishing law divides these appointments equally among four congressional leaders: the Senate majority leader, the Senate minority leader, the House speaker, and the House minority leader. Each appointing authority receives four private-citizen selections.
These citizens serve alongside eight voting members of Congress and nine nonvoting ex officio members. The arrangement was intended to combine political representation with participation from people outside federal government.
The 16-person group is also important because the president designates the commission’s chairperson from among the private citizens. The number is not the commission’s full size: counting every statutory category produces 33 total members.