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| <title> - [H.A.S.C. No. 116-1] Organizational Meeting for the 116th Congress</title> | |
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| [House Hearing, 116 Congress] | |
| [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] | |
| . | |
| [H.A.S.C. No. 116-1] | |
| ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING FOR THE 116TH CONGRESS | |
| __________ | |
| COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES | |
| HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES | |
| ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS | |
| FIRST SESSION | |
| __________ | |
| MEETING HELD | |
| JANUARY 24, 2019 | |
| [GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT] | |
| __________ | |
| U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE | |
| 35-334 WASHINGTON : 2019 | |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |
| COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES | |
| One Hundred Sixteenth Congress | |
| ADAM SMITH, Washington, Chairman | |
| SUSAN A. DAVIS, California WILLIAM M. ``MAC'' THORNBERRY, | |
| JAMES R. LANGEVIN, Rhode Island Texas | |
| RICK LARSEN, Washington JOE WILSON, South Carolina | |
| JIM COOPER, Tennessee ROB BISHOP, Utah | |
| JOE COURTNEY, Connecticut MICHAEL R. TURNER, Ohio | |
| JOHN GARAMENDI, California MIKE ROGERS, Alabama | |
| JACKIE SPEIER, California K. MICHAEL CONAWAY, Texas | |
| TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii DOUG LAMBORN, Colorado | |
| DONALD NORCROSS, New Jersey ROBERT J. WITTMAN, Virginia | |
| RUBEN GALLEGO, Arizona VICKY HARTZLER, Missouri | |
| SETH MOULTON, Massachusetts AUSTIN SCOTT, Georgia | |
| SALUD O. CARBAJAL, California MO BROOKS, Alabama | |
| ANTHONY G. BROWN, Maryland, Vice PAUL COOK, California | |
| Chair BRADLEY BYRNE, Alabama | |
| RO KHANNA, California SAM GRAVES, Missouri | |
| WILLIAM R. KEATING, Massachusetts ELISE M. STEFANIK, New York | |
| FILEMON VELA, Texas SCOTT DesJARLAIS, Tennessee | |
| ANDY KIM, New Jersey RALPH LEE ABRAHAM, Louisiana | |
| KENDRA S. HORN, Oklahoma TRENT KELLY, Mississippi | |
| GILBERT RAY CISNEROS, Jr., MIKE GALLAGHER, Wisconsin | |
| California MATT GAETZ, Florida | |
| CHRISSY HOULAHAN, Pennsylvania DON BACON, Nebraska | |
| JASON CROW, Colorado JIM BANKS, Indiana | |
| XOCHITL TORRES SMALL, New Mexico LIZ CHENEY, Wyoming | |
| ELISSA SLOTKIN, Michigan PAUL MITCHELL, Michigan | |
| MIKIE SHERRILL, New Jersey JACK BERGMAN, Michigan | |
| KATIE HILL, California MICHAEL WALTZ, Florida | |
| VERONICA ESCOBAR, Texas | |
| DEBRA A. HAALAND, New Mexico | |
| JARED F. GOLDEN, Maine | |
| LORI TRAHAN, Massachusetts | |
| ELAINE G. LURIA, Virginia | |
| Paul Arcangeli, Staff Director | |
| Zach Steacy, Director, Legislative Operations | |
| ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING FOR THE 116TH CONGRESS | |
| ---------- | |
| House of Representatives, | |
| Committee on Armed Services, | |
| Washington, DC, Thursday, January 24, 2019. | |
| The committee met, pursuant to call, at 11:00 a.m., in room | |
| 2118, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Adam Smith (chairman | |
| of the committee) presiding. | |
| OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. ADAM SMITH, A REPRESENTATIVE FROM | |
| WASHINGTON, CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES | |
| The Chairman. I would like to call the meeting to order and | |
| to ask Members to please take their seats. | |
| Thank you. Welcome to the organizational meeting for the | |
| House Armed Services Committee. I know we are a little light on | |
| Members. Unfortunately, with our ever-changing schedule, there | |
| are other committees that are picking their subcommittees, in | |
| particular, T&I [House Transportation and Infrastructure | |
| Committee] and Education and Labor, I believe. So we won't have | |
| as many Members here as we would like, but they are coming and | |
| going, and even if they are not here, I will introduce them. | |
| With that, I would just like to make a couple quick opening | |
| remarks before yielding to the ranking member for the same | |
| purpose. First of all, welcome, returning Members, returning | |
| staff, as well as new members and new staff. This is a great | |
| committee. | |
| And I want to start by saying it has been a great pleasure | |
| working with Chairman Thornberry for--well, for as long as we | |
| have been in Congress, as long as I have been in Congress | |
| anyway, 22 years, in particular, on this committee. But in | |
| particular, when he was chairman he did a fantastic job of | |
| running this committee and being inclusive with everybody on | |
| both sides of the aisle, which is the model that we want to | |
| follow. I appreciate that, and I look forward to us continuing | |
| to work together. | |
| And the best way to sum that up and sum up what our | |
| committee does, you know, people have asked, you know, what are | |
| my priorities. I am sure, as members of the committee, you have | |
| been asked what are your priorities, and there are 1,000 things | |
| that we are going to work on: district specific issues, | |
| national issues. That is one of the great things about this | |
| committee: We have an endless number of very important, very | |
| interesting, very complicated issues to work on. | |
| But at the end of the day my priority for the committee are | |
| two things: number one, to maintain the bipartisan tradition of | |
| this committee. We are the most bipartisan committee in | |
| Congress. Now, this joke is getting old at this point, but I | |
| then say, that is a very low bar to jump over these days. I | |
| understand that. | |
| But our tradition goes back before this current situation | |
| and a whole bunch of others. We work together in a bipartisan | |
| way because we understand how important our committee is. It is | |
| our job to provide the law and the background so the men and | |
| women who put their lives on the line for our country can have | |
| the tools and support that they need to do that job. We | |
| understand how important that is, and we understand that that | |
| trumps everything else that we are doing. | |
| And during my time on the committee what I have noticed is | |
| the way we maintain that bipartisan tradition is through | |
| leadership. Every chairman and every ranking member that we | |
| have had in this position that I have been privileged to work | |
| with--you know, and there have been a wide variety of them; you | |
| can see some of them up on the walls behind us here--have made | |
| that a priority, to work across the aisle, to make sure that | |
| the chair and the ranking member work together and that all | |
| Members work together. | |
| So I hope everybody in this committee will understand the | |
| importance of that and maintain that tradition. And, again, | |
| Chairman Thornberry did an outstanding job of that, was a | |
| terrific partner to work with. I worked with Buck McKeon before | |
| that. He had a similar approach, and that is a huge priority | |
| for me. So, staff, members, everybody, that is what we are | |
| working on. | |
| And then the second thing is, we produce a bill every | |
| single year, 58 straight years, I believe, only committee in | |
| Congress to do that. In fact, over the course of the last 8 | |
| years, as the appropriations process has broken down around us, | |
| we have some years been literally the only committee that | |
| produced a product. | |
| And I want everyone to know that, don't be sort of drawn in | |
| by the 58 years thing. Every single year that I have been here | |
| there has been at least four or five times during the process | |
| when we have said we are just not going to make it, we can't | |
| get past this. There have been a bunch of different times. I | |
| think the latest, probably, I believe, December 16 was the | |
| latest that we actually passed the bill. So it is not easy, but | |
| it is enormously important that we get it done. All the other | |
| issues flow into those two things. | |
| So the last thing I will say is, this is an outstanding | |
| committee. You know, I have worked with all the returning | |
| members. I have gotten a chance to get to know most of the new | |
| members. This is an incredibly talented group of people, and I | |
| am privileged to be part of this effort. I think we have got a | |
| great team. I think we can do great work. And I am absolutely | |
| confident that we will. | |
| With that, I will yield to the ranking member for any | |
| comments he has. | |
| STATEMENT OF HON. WILLIAM M. ``MAC'' THORNBERRY, A | |
| REPRESENTATIVE FROM TEXAS, RANKING MEMBER, COMMITTEE ON ARMED | |
| SERVICES | |
| Mr. Thornberry. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | |
| And I will say, first, I appreciate very much the comments | |
| that you just made; and secondly, congratulations on becoming | |
| chairman of this committee. As you referenced, you have been on | |
| this committee 22 years. You have been the ranking member, I | |
| think, the last 8. You have been either the chairman or ranking | |
| member of a variety of subcommittees; in other words, as the | |
| commercial used to say, you got it the old-fashioned way; you | |
| earned it. | |
| And I have no doubt that you will be perfectly in line with | |
| the portraits who are around us in maintaining a bipartisan | |
| tradition but with the priority not just to maintain it for its | |
| own sake but to--but for the reason that the men and women who | |
| are on the front lines deserve it and the national security of | |
| the United States deserves it. So congratulations on being | |
| here. I look forward as well to our work together. | |
| I just want to highlight some of the points you just made. | |
| I think it is a source of pride for members who have served on | |
| this committee that it is such a--I won't even say bipartisan | |
| but I would say nonpartisan committee. And I thought one way | |
| for me to demonstrate that was just to bore you with a few | |
| numbers from last year. | |
| When we marked up last year's national defense | |
| authorization bill, there were 276 amendments adopted, 132 of | |
| those were offered by Democrats, 144 by Republicans. The bill | |
| passed out of committee by a vote of 60 to 1. | |
| We go to the floor, the Rules Committee made 271 amendments | |
| in order, 155 Democrats, 116 Republicans. It passed the floor | |
| 351 to 66. When we came back from conference with the Senate it | |
| passed the House 359 to 54. It passed the Senate 87 to 10 and | |
| was signed into law on August 13th. | |
| We are not going to make August the 13th this year. We had | |
| some things working in our advantage last year with the 2-year | |
| budget deal, but my point is there are no statistics that you | |
| can cite that shows anything other than this is a nonpartisan | |
| committee. And the advantage is, whether you are a freshman or | |
| a senior Member, whether you are a minority or majority, you | |
| can meaningfully contribute to something that will become law. | |
| And that is just not true in other committees. And as you point | |
| out, the purpose is not just for its own sake; it is because we | |
| have a responsibility to do something bigger. | |
| You outlined your priorities, which I wholeheartedly | |
| endorse. I would just add, from my standpoint, substantively, I | |
| want to do everything we can to make sure we don't slip | |
| backwards on the progress that we have started to make in | |
| rebuilding and repairing the military. The worst thing we can | |
| do is send somebody out there on a mission and not give them | |
| the best equipment, the best training, the best support that | |
| that man or woman deserves and that we can provide. | |
| So I don't want to slip backwards. And as you know, I also | |
| want to continue to work to make the Pentagon work better. Part | |
| of that is efficiency but a lot of it is incorporating new | |
| technologies that are just essential to defending the country. | |
| Again, all of this has been completely nonpartisan in the past. | |
| I am sure it will be in the future. We look forward to working | |
| with you. | |
| I yield back. | |
| The Chairman. Thank you, Mac. | |
| And just, yeah, echoing a couple of those remarks, I also | |
| want to thank you for your work on acquisition and procurement | |
| reform. The efforts to make sure that we get the most out of | |
| the money we spend at the Pentagon are enormously important, | |
| and there is still a lot of work to do on that. | |
| But in addition to being the chairman, no member of this | |
| committee has done more work on that issue than Mr. Thornberry. | |
| So I appreciate his leadership, continued efforts, and someday | |
| we will get that audit. So--and I am not just kidding. That is | |
| actually an enormously important thing to work on to make sure | |
| we get there. | |
| And the second thing is, while, you know, Mac and I have | |
| had disagreements in the past about how much money to spend and | |
| where it should go and all of that, as we have throughout both | |
| sides of the aisle, the point to be made is the most important | |
| one. Whatever we decide the mission should be, whatever we say, | |
| okay, this is what our Armed Forces need to be ready to do, it | |
| is our responsibility to make sure that they are trained and | |
| equipped so that they can do it. | |
| To me, the worst possible outcome is what Mac just | |
| described, either we don't provide them the money or we decide, | |
| well, we want to do everything, so they are underprepared for | |
| what it is that we are asking them to do. | |
| We need to decide what the missions are and make sure that | |
| we can fund it. You know, which is, you know, the prelude to | |
| some arguments that we have had in the past and will probably | |
| have in the future, but that baseline premise that we have to | |
| make sure that we provide for the missions that we are asking | |
| to be accomplished we are 100 percent in agreement on. | |
| So, yeah, I didn't read my script. I was supposed to tell | |
| you the three things that we had to do today. That was one, so | |
| we are done with that. | |
| Now I am going to introduce the new members and then we | |
| have got some rules stuff. So I am now going to do something | |
| that I don't think in the entire 22 years that I have been on | |
| the committee I have done. I am going to read word for word | |
| something that my staff gave me. I don't know if they are | |
| excited about that or a little bit nervous. | |
| But we have on our side of the aisle 16 new Members of | |
| Congress. Now, normally I like to, you know, get some memory of | |
| this stuff and be able to authentically just, you know, say | |
| something about everybody. There is no way on God's green Earth | |
| I am going to be able to do that with 16 different Members. | |
| So my staff has helpfully provided me with some background | |
| on everybody, and I am going to introduce the Members and read | |
| through that. I know some of them aren't here because of other | |
| committee assignments probably, although it looks like actually | |
| most of them are here. But whether you are here or not, I am | |
| going to introduce you. | |
| So I will get started and then we will turn it over to Mr. | |
| Thornberry to do the same. So, first, we have Bill Keating from | |
| Massachusetts, who is a returning Member of Congress but new to | |
| the committee. He represents Massachusetts' Ninth District, | |
| which includes Joint Base Cape Cod along with several naval | |
| underwater research academic institutions around the area. | |
| He is the grandson of a Gold Star mother and a former | |
| district attorney. He joins the committee having previously | |
| served on the Homeland Security Committee and is the | |
| presumptive chair of the Europe and Eurasia Subcommittee on | |
| House Foreign Affairs Committee. Welcome, Bill. Good to have | |
| you. | |
| Our second returning Member but new to the committee is | |
| Filemon Vela. He represents the 34th District of Texas, which | |
| includes Naval Air Station Kingsville with the Corpus Christi | |
| Army Depot and Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in the adjacent | |
| district. Texas 34 is home to the SpaceX South Texas launch | |
| site in Brownsville. | |
| Mr. Vela was first elected to Congress in 2012. He is a | |
| former trial lawyer and the son of one of first Hispanic | |
| Federal judges. He previously served on the Homeland Security | |
| Committee, and he continues to serve as a senior member of the | |
| Agricultural Committee. Welcome. | |
| And now we have our newly elected Members, beginning with | |
| Andy Kim, who represents New Jersey's Third District. This | |
| includes Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, the only tri-service | |
| base in the country. Joint Base MDL includes units from all | |
| five armed services branches and directly employs 50,000, | |
| including 30,000 Active Duty. | |
| Representative Kim has worked at the U.S. State Department, | |
| the Pentagon, and has served in Afghanistan as a civilian | |
| adviser to Generals Petraeus and Allen, and has also served on | |
| the National Security Council. Welcome. | |
| Kendra Horn represents the Fifth District of Oklahoma, home | |
| to the U.S. Coast Guard Institute, the Mike Monroney | |
| Aeronautical Center, and thousands of civilian and military | |
| personnel of Tinker Air Force Base. A lawyer by training, she | |
| left the nonprofit world to bring her experience in the | |
| aeronautics industry to the U.S. House of Representatives. | |
| Thank you for joining us. | |
| Gil Cisneros represents California's 39th District covering | |
| parts of Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino Counties, and | |
| has numerous aerospace and defense industry companies. | |
| Representative Cisneros comes from a military family, as both | |
| his grandfathers served in World War II, his father served in | |
| the Vietnam war, and he earned his education through a Naval | |
| Reserve Officer Training Corps scholarship and served as a U.S. | |
| naval officer for 10 years. | |
| I will say, we have a good blend of our new Members of | |
| people who have served in the military, State Department, CIA | |
| [Central Intelligence Agency], and elsewhere, as well as people | |
| who are civilians. So I think it is an excellent mix, and we | |
| are happy to have that breadth of experience. | |
| Next is Chrissy Houlahan, who represents Pennsylvania's | |
| Sixth District, which is the western suburbs of Philadelphia | |
| and the Reading area in Berks County. Chrissy is third- | |
| generation military. She served 3 years on Active Duty in the | |
| Air Force, followed by 13 years in the active and inactive | |
| Reserves, ultimately rising to the rank of captain. She also | |
| brings to the committee training as an engineer and a | |
| background growing global businesses. | |
| Jason Crow represents Colorado's Sixth Congressional | |
| District, which includes Buckley Air Force Base with Fort | |
| Carson and the Air Force Academy directly south of the | |
| district. Rep. [Representative] Crow is a former Army Ranger, | |
| having served in both conventional and special operations units | |
| during three combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. | |
| Xochitl--and this, by the way, is a big moment I have been | |
| waiting for is to see if I could successfully not butcher that | |
| first name. Xochitl Torres Small is from New Mexico's Second | |
| District, which is home to Holloman Air Force Base and White | |
| Sands Missile Range, the largest military installation in the | |
| country. | |
| With an average of less than 10 people per square mile, New | |
| Mexico's Second District faces many challenges unique to rural | |
| communities, and as I understand, it is the fifth largest | |
| district in the country. That is a lot of ground to cover. I | |
| was telling her earlier, I could walk out my door and drive to | |
| any place in my district in about 45 minutes, so I understand | |
| the challenge that you face there, and I am very happy to have | |
| my much smaller district. But I am sure you will do an | |
| excellent job representing it. | |
| She previously worked as a water attorney and a field | |
| representative for Senator Udall. Through these roles she | |
| worked with local governments, farmers, developers, and | |
| conservationists to protect our water. | |
| Next is Elissa Slotkin from Michigan's Eighth District, | |
| which includes Ingham County, home to Michigan's capital and | |
| Michigan State University; Livingston County; and North Oakland | |
| County, home to Michigan's Automation Alley. Just outside the | |
| district is TAACOM, the U.S. Army Tank, Automotive and | |
| Armaments Command. Representative Slotkin has spent her career | |
| in government service. | |
| She joined the CIA after 9/11 and served three tours in | |
| Iraq alongside the military. Rep. Slotkin has held a series of | |
| leadership positions at the Department of Defense, including as | |
| acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for International | |
| Security Affairs. Welcome. | |
| Next we have Mikie Sherrill, who represents New Jersey's | |
| 11th District, which includes Picatinny Arsenal, home of the | |
| Defense Department's Joint Center of Excellence for Armaments | |
| and Munitions. She graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and | |
| spent almost 10 years on Active Duty in the United States Navy | |
| as a Sea King helicopter pilot and on her last tour served as a | |
| Russian policy adviser. | |
| Next, from California we have Katie Hill. She serves the | |
| Antelope, Simi, and Santa Clarita Valleys, California's 25th | |
| District. She is the former executive director of People | |
| Assisting the Homeless, which she grew from a local | |
| organization to the State's largest provider of homelessness | |
| services, where she moved thousands of families and veterans | |
| off the streets and into permanent, affordable homes. | |
| Next, from Texas' 16th Congressional District, we have | |
| Veronica Escobar, and this includes Fort Bliss Army Base, | |
| which, I forget, I think it is like the third or fourth largest | |
| Army base, one of the largest Army bases in the country. And | |
| she has previously served in El Paso as a county judge for two | |
| terms. | |
| Then back to New Mexico, we have Deb Haaland, who | |
| represents New Mexico's First District, which includes Kirtland | |
| Air Force Base, Sandia National Laboratory, and a part of White | |
| Sands Missile Range. New Mexico is home to three other military | |
| installations: Cannon Air Force Base, Holloman Air Force Base, | |
| as well as Los Alamos National Laboratories. | |
| Her father was a 30-year combat Marine veteran who was | |
| awarded the Silver Star Medal for saving six lives during | |
| Vietnam, and he was laid to rest at Arlington National | |
| Cemetery. Her mother is a Navy veteran who was a Federal | |
| employee for 25 years in Indian education. She is an enrolled | |
| member of the Pueblo of Laguna. | |
| Now we go across the country to Maine to Jared Golden, who | |
| represents Maine's Second District, which is home to the Bangor | |
| Air National Guard Base and hundreds of Bath Iron Works | |
| employees. After the September 11 attacks, Golden enlisted in | |
| the United States Marine Corps. He served 4 years in the | |
| military as an infantryman deploying to Afghanistan in 2004 and | |
| Iraq in 2005 and 2006. | |
| Staying in the northeast, Lori Trahan from Massachusetts' | |
| Third District. Fort Devens is in Massachusetts 3 and Hanscom | |
| Air Force Base abuts the district. Lori is a native of Lowell, | |
| Massachusetts. She served as chief of staff to former Rep. | |
| Marty Meehan and later founded a successful consulting firm. | |
| And believe it or not, we are now down to the last Member. | |
| From the great State of Virginia, Elaine Luria, who represents | |
| Virginia's Second District, which is home to eight major | |
| military installations representing all branches of the Armed | |
| Forces, including Naval Station Norfolk, the largest naval base | |
| in the world. | |
| A 20-year Navy veteran who achieved the rank of commander, | |
| Rep. Luria joins the committee after six deployments in the | |
| Middle East and Western Pacific supporting both operations | |
| Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. | |
| A very large group, if we could give them all a collective | |
| round of applause and welcome them to the committee. | |
| And with that, I yield to Mr. Thornberry. | |
| Mr. Thornberry. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | |
| I join you in welcoming the new Members on your side of the | |
| aisle. And Conaway and I are particularly glad to have some | |
| Texas reinforcements. | |
| What we lack in quantity of new Members we make up for with | |
| quality. We have two new Members: First, in his second term, | |
| Congressman Jack Bergman from the First District of Michigan. | |
| He served in a Marine uniform for four decades, starting as a | |
| combat assault pilot in Vietnam and finishing as commanding | |
| general of the largest force level organization in the Marine | |
| Corps responsible for roughly 100,000 Marines and sailors. | |
| Lieutenant General Bergman is the highest-ranking combat | |
| veteran ever elected to Congress, but he says you still don't | |
| have to salute him. | |
| And secondly, new Member of Congress, Representative | |
| Michael Waltz from the Sixth District of Florida. He is the | |
| first ever Green Beret elected to Congress, served our country | |
| on the battlefield including multiple combat tours, and also | |
| served as a senior national security policy adviser in the | |
| Pentagon and at the White House under Vice President Cheney. He | |
| is still serving as a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard, | |
| and we are very glad to have both of these new Members join our | |
| ranks. | |
| The Chairman. And we are being joined by Mr. Brown who is-- | |
| we are in the majority now. We are on this side. | |
| Yeah, actually, when we got in the majority after 10 years | |
| in the minority, I didn't realize that they flipped the side | |
| that you sit on just based on that. So welcome, Mr. Brown, the | |
| vice chairman of the committee, Anthony Brown. | |
| All right. Now we have some business to take care of, so we | |
| will get through the script here. I call up Committee | |
| Resolution No. 1 regarding the committee rules for the 116th | |
| Congress. The clerk shall read the resolution. | |
| Ms. Quinn. ``Committee Resolution No. 1. Resolved, That the | |
| Committee on Armed Services, U.S. House of Representatives, | |
| adopt the committee rules for the 116th Congress, which are | |
| stated in the copy distributed to each Member.'' | |
| The Chairman. The proposed committee rules have been | |
| developed jointly by Ranking Member Thornberry and made | |
| available to Members' offices on Monday, January 21. | |
| Following consultation with Mr. Thornberry, I ask unanimous | |
| consent that the resolution be considered as read and that the | |
| resolution be open to amendment at any point. | |
| Is there objection? | |
| Without objection, it is so ordered. | |
| [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT] | |
| The Chairman. At this time, is there any discussion, or | |
| are there any questions concerning the committee rules? | |
| If there is no further discussion, are there any amendments | |
| to the committee rules? | |
| We will take that as a no as well. | |
| There are no amendments. | |
| The Chair now recognizes the gentleman from Rhode Island, | |
| Mr. Langevin, for the purpose of offering a motion regarding | |
| Committee Resolution No. 1, the committee rules. | |
| Mr. Langevin. Mr. Chairman, I move to adopt Committee | |
| Resolution No. 1 concerning the committee rules. | |
| The Chairman. The question now occurs on the motion of the | |
| gentleman from Rhode Island, Mr. Langevin. | |
| So many as are in favor say aye. | |
| Those opposed. | |
| A quorum being present, the ayes have it, and the motion is | |
| adopted. And without objection, the motion to consider is laid | |
| upon the table. | |
| The next order of business is Committee Resolution No. 2, | |
| unsurprisingly, I suppose, regarding the committee's security | |
| procedures for the 116th Congress. I call up Committee | |
| Resolution No. 2. The clerk shall read the resolution. | |
| Ms. Quinn. ``Committee Resolution No. 2. Resolved, That the | |
| Committee on Armed Services, U.S. House of Representatives, | |
| adopt the committee security procedures for the 116th Congress, | |
| a copy of which has been distributed to each Member.'' | |
| The Chairman. The security procedures were coordinated | |
| again with Mr. Thornberry and were made available to Members' | |
| offices on Monday, January 21. | |
| Following consultation with Mr. Thornberry, I ask unanimous | |
| consent that the resolution be considered as read and the | |
| resolution be open to amendment at any point. | |
| Is there any objection? | |
| Without objection, it is so ordered. | |
| [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT] | |
| The Chairman. At this time, if there are--is there any | |
| discussion? Are there any questions concerning the security | |
| procedures? | |
| If there is no further discussion, are there any amendments | |
| to the security procedures? | |
| There are no amendments. | |
| The Chair now recognizes the gentleman from Rhode Island, | |
| Mr. Langevin, for the purpose of offering a motion regarding | |
| Committee Resolution No. 2, the security procedures for the | |
| 116th Congress. | |
| Mr. Langevin. Mr. Chairman, I move to adopt Committee | |
| Resolution No. 2, the security procedures for the 116th | |
| Congress. | |
| The Chairman. The question now occurs on the motion of the | |
| gentleman from Rhode Island, Mr. Langevin. | |
| So many as are in favor will say aye. | |
| Those opposed. | |
| A quorum being present, the ayes have it, and the motion is | |
| adopted. And without objection, a motion to reconsider is laid | |
| upon the table. | |
| And I--oh, I thought we were done. There is actually a | |
| Committee Resolution No. 3. On to the final order of business. | |
| I call up Committee Resolution No. 3, appointing committee | |
| staff for the 116th Congress. That is actually kind of | |
| important. The clerk shall read the resolution. | |
| Ms. Quinn. ``Committee Resolution No. 3. Resolved, That the | |
| persons listed on the sheet distributed to the Members, and | |
| such other personnel as may be required by the committee within | |
| the limits and terms authorized under the Rules of the House of | |
| Representatives, are hereby appointed to the staff of the | |
| Committee on Armed Services, U.S. House of Representatives, for | |
| the 116th Congress, it being understood that according to the | |
| provisions of law, the Chairman will fix the basic salary per | |
| annum.'' | |
| The Chairman. As many of you know, our committee is unique | |
| in that the committee staff is a combined staff. The committee | |
| staff is here to provide advice and counsel to all of you, | |
| Democratic and Republican Members alike. Please feel free to | |
| avail yourself of their services. They are a talented group of | |
| professionals. | |
| And this point actually bears emphasis. The single greatest | |
| asset that we have on this committee are these people you see | |
| lined up around us. We have an unbelievably talented staff that | |
| are incredibly important to the work we do. Please take | |
| advantage of that. | |
| Whatever the issue is you are working on, these people can | |
| help you. They do an outstanding job for us. In fact, I am | |
| going to ask you to give our staff a round of applause. They | |
| work incredibly long hours and do an outstanding job, so | |
| appreciate having them. Look forward to working with them, as | |
| always. | |
| A copy of the committee staff in the 116th Congress was | |
| prepared in consultation with the minority and made available | |
| to Members' offices earlier this week. Following consultation | |
| with Mr. Thornberry, I ask unanimous consent that the | |
| resolution be considered as read. | |
| Is there objection? | |
| Without objection, it is so ordered. | |
| [GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT] | |
| The Chairman. At this time, is there any discussion, or | |
| are there any questions concerning the committee staff? | |
| Mr. Thornberry. Mr. Chairman. | |
| The Chairman. Yes, Mr. Thornberry. | |
| Mr. Thornberry. Mr. Chairman, I was going to make a point | |
| that you made but I do want to emphasize it. This is another | |
| way this committee is different from all other committees. Now, | |
| you see some of these ladies and gentlemen on this side and | |
| some on this side, but we have a unified staff, which means any | |
| member can go to any member of the staff and they will help | |
| with whatever issue you want to talk to them about. And that | |
| just doesn't--and they have different expertise. | |
| And so I also encourage all members to take advantage of | |
| that unique aspect of this committee, which also helps us | |
| maintain the strong bipartisan tradition here. | |
| Thank you. I yield back. | |
| The Chairman. Any further discussion? | |
| If there is no further discussion, the Chair now recognizes | |
| the gentleman from Rhode Island, Mr. Langevin, for the purpose | |
| of offering a motion regarding Committee Resolution No. 3, | |
| appointing the committee staff for the 116th Congress. | |
| Mr. Langevin. Mr. Chairman, I move to adopt Committee | |
| Resolution No. 3 regarding committee staffing for the 116th | |
| Congress. | |
| The Chairman. The question now occurs on the motion of the | |
| gentleman from Rhode Island, Mr. Langevin. | |
| So many as are in favor will say aye. | |
| Those opposed, no. | |
| A quorum being present, the ayes have it, and 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 Resolutions No. 1, 2, and 3. | |
| Before we adjourn, there is apparently a brief | |
| administrative matter. Oh, yeah. Okay. We have a 5-minute rule | |
| in this committee. Basically when we have hearings, when we do | |
| markups, you all have 5 minutes to speak. We are going to try | |
| to strictly adhere to that. The only exception to that is, | |
| well, me and the ranking member, who--we are, by tradition, not | |
| on the clock. | |
| And, you know, it is a big committee, so there are a lot of | |
| members to get to. I always like to emphasize that just because | |
| you have 5 minutes you don't actually have to take all 5 | |
| minutes. Now, I understand you have got important things to do, | |
| and if you do and it is correct and if you need to, that is | |
| fine. But it is not required. | |
| And the other thing is, I sort of have et al. attention | |
| deficit disorder to a certain degree, not during hearings but | |
| in markups. I am going to try to move things along as quickly | |
| as possible, but also I want a robust debate. So I find it | |
| better, if you have got something to say, say it. If you can | |
| say it more briefly, that helps more people be able to say | |
| their piece. | |
| So I am going to try to move that along as quickly as | |
| possible. But I understand, as members of this committee, you | |
| have districts to serve, you have issues you are pressing. We | |
| have the witnesses. We are going to try to get to all of you. | |
| I will warn some of you down further that we consistently | |
| have witnesses, particularly when they are from the Pentagon, | |
| who have hard stops. And, you know, we don't always get to | |
| everybody. You will figure that out as you go, but we will try. | |
| We will do our level best. | |
| I believe--I don't know if this is formally in the rules or | |
| if we do this, and the way it works, that I was unaware of at | |
| first, is you are in line when the gavel falls. It is by | |
| seniority for the most part, but if you are not here when the | |
| committee starts, you lose your place in line. Whoever is here, | |
| they are in line, and then as you come in you then go to the | |
| end of the line. | |
| And I will say something that every member of this | |
| committee learns after about the first day, you can show up for | |
| the gavel falling, leave, and then monitor it and come back | |
| when you ask your question. I don't necessarily recommend that, | |
| depending on what you have, but I want to make sure that | |
| everyone is aware that that is the rule. So if you are sitting | |
| there waiting to be called on and we call on somebody past you | |
| and you go, why? That is why. | |
| I think that is everything. Mac, do you have anything? | |
| Okay. All right. I just did that informally because my next | |
| line says, ``Let me recognize Mr. Thornberry in case he has any | |
| closing comments or wishes to add to this discussion.'' | |
| Mr. Thornberry. I am good. | |
| The Chairman. All right. Cool. | |
| If there is no further business, the committee stands | |
| adjourned subject to the call of the Chair, and I look forward | |
| to working with all of you. | |
| [Whereupon, at 11:30 a.m., the committee was adjourned.] | |
| [all] | |
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