WASHINGTON — Taxpayers will no longer be on the hook for pricey portraits of Cabinet officials most Americans have never heard of, under new legislation that has cleared a Senate committee.

Taxpayer funding would be capped at $20,000 per picture — and only high-level officials in the line of presidential succession would be eligible, under a bill by Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH).