Slaughter was the Chairwoman of the House Rules Committee from 2007 until 2011, and served as ranking minority member of the Committee (a post she also held from 2005 to 2007) from 2011 to 2018. From the 2017 retirement of Charles Rangel until her death, Slaughter was the dean of New York's House delegation. Slaughter was the oldest Member of the House of Representatives at the time of her death.