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24–297 2017

[H.A.S.C. No. 115–2] 

CONSIDERATION OF THE COMMITTEE 

OVERSIGHT PLAN FOR THE 

115TH CONGRESS 

COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

MEETING HELD 

FEBRUARY 2, 2017 
(II) 

COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES 

ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS

WILLIAM M. ‘‘MAC’’ THORNBERRY, Texas, Chairman 

WALTER B. JONES, North Carolina 

JOE WILSON, South Carolina 

FRANK A. LOBIONDO, New Jersey 

ROB BISHOP, Utah 

MICHAEL R. TURNER, Ohio 

MIKE ROGERS, Alabama 

TRENT FRANKS, Arizona 

BILL SHUSTER, Pennsylvania 

K. MICHAEL CONAWAY, Texas 

DOUG LAMBORN, Colorado 

ROBERT J. WITTMAN, Virginia 

DUNCAN HUNTER, California 

MIKE COFFMAN, Colorado 

VICKY HARTZLER, Missouri 

AUSTIN SCOTT, Georgia 

MO BROOKS, Alabama 

PAUL COOK, California 

JIM BRIDENSTINE, Oklahoma 

BRAD R. WENSTRUP, Ohio 

BRADLEY BYRNE, Alabama 

SAM GRAVES, Missouri 

ELISE M. STEFANIK, New York 

MARTHA MCSALLY, Arizona 

STEPHEN KNIGHT, California 

STEVE RUSSELL, Oklahoma 

SCOTT DESJARLAIS, Tennessee 

RALPH LEE ABRAHAM, Louisiana 

TRENT KELLY, Mississippi 

MIKE GALLAGHER, Wisconsin 

MATT GAETZ, Florida 

DON BACON, Nebraska 

JIM BANKS, Indiana 

LIZ CHENEY, Wyoming 

ADAM SMITH, Washington 

ROBERT A. BRADY, Pennsylvania 

SUSAN A. DAVIS, California 

JAMES R. LANGEVIN, Rhode Island 

RICK LARSEN, Washington 

JIM COOPER, Tennessee 

MADELEINE Z. BORDALLO, Guam 

JOE COURTNEY, Connecticut 

NIKI TSONGAS, Massachusetts 

JOHN GARAMENDI, California 

JACKIE SPEIER, California 

MARC A. VEASEY, Texas 

TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii 

BETO O’ROURKE, Texas 

DONALD NORCROSS, New Jersey 

RUBEN GALLEGO, Arizona 

SETH MOULTON, Massachusetts 

COLLEEN HANABUSA, Hawaii 

CAROL SHEA–PORTER, New Hampshire 

JACKY ROSEN, Nevada 

A. DONALD MCEACHIN, Virginia 

SALUD O. CARBAJAL, California 

ANTHONY G. BROWN, Maryland 

STEPHANIE N. MURPHY, Florida 

RO KHANNA, California 

SCOTT H. PETERS, California 

PETE AGUILAR, California 

JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas 

ROBERT L. SIMMONS II, Staff Director 

ZACH STEACY, Director, Legislative Operations 
(1) 

CONSIDERATION OF THE COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT 

PLAN FOR THE 115TH CONGRESS 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES, Washington, DC, Thursday, February 2, 2017. 

The committee met, pursuant to call, at 10:13 a.m., in room 

2118, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. William M. ‘‘Mac’’ 

Thornberry (chairman of the committee) presiding. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. WILLIAM M. ‘‘MAC’’ THORNBERRY, A REPRESENTATIVE FROM TEXAS, CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES 

The CHAIRMAN. The committee will come to order. A quorum is 

now present, although I know some of our members are stuck on 

a bus coming back from a late prayer breakfast. 

Let me welcome everyone. The plan today is to consider and vote 

on the committee oversight plan. We will then immediately adjourn 

and go upstairs for a classified briefing with the Defense Intelligence Agency to follow up on our hearing yesterday about the state 

of the world. 

Before we get to that, it is a tradition in this committee that we 

specifically introduce and welcome each of the new members to our 

committee. So let me do that on this side of the aisle right quick 

and then turn to Mr. Smith to introduce the members that he has 

so far on the other side of the aisle. 

First I want to welcome Dr. Scott DesJarlais, representing Tennessee’s Fourth District, whose constituents are part of the workforce of Arnold Air Force Base, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 

and Redstone Arsenal. Fourth term member, he has worked closely 

with this committee on force protection issues, especially after the 

shooting at the Chattanooga Naval Reserve Center. 

Next to him is Dr. Ralph Abraham. So if we have any medical 

problems in our late night markup, we are set. Dr. Abraham represents Louisiana’s Fifth District, a voice for Louisiana’s military 

installations. He is not only a medical doctor, he is also a veterinarian, and served in the Army National Guard and is currently 

a Coast Guard auxiliary pilot. 

The chair next to him is filled by Trent Kelly, who represents 

Mississippi’s First District. A colonel in the Mississippi Army National Guard, he served for 30 years as an engineer, including multiple tours in Iraq. It is good to see Mississippi represented again 

on this committee. 

Next to him is—oh, no. Kelly is—I am sorry. I didn’t see you. 

Trent Kelly is here. 
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The seat next to him, who is not here, is Dr. Mike Gallagher, another kind of doctor, he has a Ph.D. from Georgetown, representing 

Wisconsin’s Eighth District. Mike served 7 years as a Marine Corps 

intelligence officer, including tours in Iraq, and has focused his 

work on counterterrorism, Middle East policy, including time at the 

National Counterterrorism Center, and unfortunately the Senate 

Foreign Relations Committee, which we will have to work out of 

him as soon as we can. 

Now, next to him on the end is Matt Gaetz representing Florida’s 

First District, home of one of the largest military districts in the 

country, including Naval Air Station Pensacola and Eglin Air Force 

Base. Matt is a recovering lawyer, and joins us from his service in 

the Florida State legislature. 

I think on the bus coming back from the prayer breakfast is Don 

Bacon, who represents Nebraska’s Second Congressional District. 

He is a retired Air Force brigadier general, commanded twice at 

the wing level at Offutt Air Force Base and at Ramstein. He deployed four times to the Middle East. 

Next is Jim Banks, who represents Indiana’s Third District, 

home of the 122nd Fighter Wing of the Indiana National Guard. A 

naval supply officer, he has very recently completed a tour in Afghanistan, and also chaired the Indiana State Senate Veterans and 

Military Committee. 

And, finally, we have Liz Cheney, who represents Wyoming, 

home of F.E. Warren Air Force Base. Liz, of course, has served 

multiple policy roles in the State Department, including the second 

ranked official on U.S. policy in the Middle East. She is an accomplished author and commentator on American exceptionalism and 

national security, and has provided assistance to this committee 

even before she was elected to Congress. 

So we are very pleased at each of the new members on our side 

of the aisle, as we are with all new members to this committee. 

Let me yield to Mr. Smith for any comments and introductions. 

STATEMENT OF HON. ADAM SMITH, A REPRESENTATIVE FROM 

WASHINGTON, RANKING MEMBER, COMMITTEE ON ARMED 

SERVICES 

Mr. SMITH. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

We have eight new members, we have three more coming, which 

as I understand it, the Steering and Policy Committee will finalize 

tomorrow. So we will introduce them when the time is appropriate, 

but we do have eight new members, six of whom, I believe, are 

here. So we will start with a couple who have been on this committee before and welcome them back. 

Colleen Hanabusa, who represents Hawaii’s First District, which 

includes Camp H.M. Smith, headquarters of the United States Pacific Command. She is a lawyer by profession. As Mr. Thornberry 

said, we won’t hold that against anyone. I am a lawyer by profession; fortunately got over it. She returns to Congress and the 

Armed Services Committee, having previously served in three Congresses: 112th, 113th, 114th. So we welcome back her expertise. 

And certainly, Hawaii is a critical part of our national security 

team. So welcome back. 
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Also returning is Carol Shea-Porter, who represents New Hampshire’s First District, which includes Pease Air Force National 

Guard Base and Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. She is also returning 

to Congress, having served in the 110th, 111th, and 113th; is the 

daughter of a Navy World War II veteran and was a military 

spouse while her husband served in the Army during Vietnam. 

Welcome back. 

We now have freshmen members, who are brand-new to the committee, starting with Jacky Rosen, who represents Nevada’s Third 

District, which is just south of Las Vegas. And just north of her 

district is Nellis and Creech Air Force Bases. And she comes to the 

committee with experience as a software developer and computer 

programmer for a variety of businesses in Nevada. Welcome. 

And we have Donald McEachin, who represents Virginia’s Fourth 

District, which includes Fort Lee, with the Navy installations in 

Norfolk and Newport News area just outside the district. He is the 

son of an Army veteran and a lawyer by profession. He joins the 

committee having previously served in the Virginia House of Delegates and the Virginia Senate. 

Next, we have Salud Carbajal, who represents California’s 24th 

District, which includes Vandenberg Air Force Base, Camp Roberts, 

and has Naval Base Ventura County and Fort Hunter Liggett nearby. He served 8 years in the Marine Corps Reserve, including active service during the 1991 Gulf war, and previously served on the 

Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors for 12 years. Thank 

you for joining us. 

Next, we have Anthony Brown, not far from here, representing 

Maryland’s Fourth District, which borders Fort Meade and the U.S. 

Naval Academy. He is a retired colonel. He served in the Army 

from 1984 to 1989, in the Army Reserves from 1989 to 2014, and 

was the recipient of the Bronze Star while deployed in Iraq in 

2004. He served in the Maryland House of Delegates for 8 years 

and as lieutenant governor for another 8 years. It is great to have 

your experience on the committee. 

Two more members who are not yet here, but I will introduce 

them anyway. Stephanie Murphy, who represents Florida’s Seventh District, which includes Naval Support Activity Orlando, 

which is involved in a range of research and development programs 

supporting the Department of Defense. She also served as a national security specialist in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, 

where she worked on a wide range of security issues from counterterrorism, foreign military relations, to strategic planning for the 

Department. 

And last, we have Ro Khanna, who represents California’s 17th 

District, a district that includes a number of technology companies 

doing work with the Department of Defense. He served in the 

Obama administration as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for International Trade and recently taught economics at 

Stanford University. 

And let me just say in sum in agreeing with the chairman, we 

have a remarkable amount of talent on both sides of the aisle, as 

you can hear. I mean, the breadth of experience from military to 

technology, and on, I think, is going to serve this committee very 
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well. So we welcome all of you and look forward to working with 

you. 

I yield back. 

The CHAIRMAN. Very well said. I completely agree. 

Now we will go to our business, which is adoption of the oversight plan. This is required by House Rules. We sent it to everybody a couple days ago, so that you have had a chance to look at 

it. Obviously, we touch on a number of topics in the oversight plan, 

but we also try to leave flexibility so that we can adjust to changes 

that happen over the course of the next 2 years. 

So we have worked on this collaboratively with Mr. Smith, and 

hopefully this can be adopted with the committee. 

What? Painlessly, he says. So I am all for that as well. 

Do you have any other comments you would like to make? 

Mr. SMITH. No, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Great. So let me officially call up Committee Resolution No. 4 regarding the committee oversight plan for the 115th 

Congress. The clerk shall read the resolution. 

Dr. BRIGHT. Committee Resolution No. 4. Resolved, that the 

Committee on Armed Services, U.S. House of Representatives, 

adopt the committee oversight plan for the 115th Congress, a copy 

of which has been distributed to each member. 

The CHAIRMAN. Following consultation with Mr. Smith, I ask 

unanimous consent the resolution be considered as read and open 

for amendment at any point. 

Without objection, it is so ordered. 
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The CHAIRMAN. Is there any discussion on the oversight plan? 

Are there any amendments to the oversight plan? 

If not, the chair recognizes the gentleman from Utah for the purpose of offering a motion. 

Mr. BISHOP. Mr. Chairman, I move to adopt the Committee Resolution No. 4, concerning the committee oversight plan. 

The CHAIRMAN. The question now occurs on the motion from the 

gentleman from Utah. So members in favor will say aye. 

Those opposed, say no. 

In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. The ayes have it, 

a quorum being present. The motion is adopted. And without objection, a motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. Without objection, committee staff is authorized to make technical and conforming changes to reflect the action of the committee in adopting Committee Resolution No. 4. 

And I think that is all the business we have. Again, we will start 

immediately upstairs in 2212 with our classified briefing with the 

Defense Intelligence Agency. 

The committee stands adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 10:24 a.m., the committee was adjourned.] 

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