A reorganization of the House Armed Services Committee was needed, in order
for the six subcommittees to focus on critical military missions rather than
on traditional lines of budget categories, said HASC Chairman Duncan Hunter,
R-Calif.
The restructuring will allow the committee to focus more on current mission
areas, with “greater emphasis on unconventional threats and enhancing
our capabilities to respond to them,” he said.
Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., is the committee’s vice chairman as well as
chair of the subcommittee on tactical land and air forces. He is known as a
tireless advocate of increased defense spending and as an expert in Russia-U.S.
relations.
Weldon said he joined Hunter several years ago in calling for the reorganization
of the committee as a way to streamline conference negotiations with the Senate
Armed Services Committee.
As vice chairman, Weldon said he planned to “take a lead role in increasing
the activity of junior members of the committee, continue to lead outreach efforts
to gain support from universities, labor unions and ethnic groups as well as working to ensure that cooperative threat reduction programs receive the attention
they deserve.”
The tactical air and land forces subcommittee, which Weldon chairs, has jurisdiction
over the annual authorization for Army and Air Force acquisition programs, Naval
and Marine Corps tactical aviation and National Guard, Army and Air Force Reserve
equipment. The new subcommittee will oversee approximately $60 billion in military
funds.
Rep. Terry Everett, R-Ala., is the chair of the subcommittee on strategic forces.
An Air Force veteran, Everett served as an intelligence officer in Europe until
1959. He also serves on the House’s Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
and the House Veterans Affairs Committee, and is also chairman of the Veterans
Affairs subcommittee on oversight and investigations.
Everett’s subcommittee will have involvement in the war on terrorism,
Saddam Hussein and Iraq, the renewed tension on the Korean peninsula, and the
threat of ballistic missile attack.
“This subcommittee will be responsible for shepherding a $45 billion
budget for research, development and procurement annually,” said Everett.
He has jurisdiction over key Army missile-defense and air-defense programs.
Rep. Jim Saxton, R-N.J., chairs the subcommittee on terrorism, unconventional
threats and capabilities. The panel oversees counter terrorism efforts and emerging
threats.
“Iraq, North Korea, Iran, the Middle East, and the re-emergence of the
al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Africa pose new and potentially dangerous international
problems which we will have to confront in the near future,” said Saxton.
He oversees $7 billion in budgetary authority.
Rep. John McHugh, R-N.Y., is chairman of the subcommittee on total force, which
is responsible for military personnel policy, reserve component integration
and employment, military health care, military education, prisoner of war/missing
in action (POW/MIA) issues, morale, welfare, recreation and quality of life
programs.
McHugh also serves as co-chairman of the House Army Caucus and is a member
of West Point’s Board of Visitors. From 2001 to 2003, he served as chairman
of the subcommittee on military personnel and served as chairman of a special
panel on morale, welfare, and recreation from 1995 to 2001.
The subcommittee oversees more than $70 billion in defense spending related
to personnel issues and $15 billion in health benefits.
“These times of heightened security and increased deployments can be
very challenging for our military men and women and their families,” said
McHugh. “The issues of end strength and quality of life are perhaps, now
more important than ever. In recent years, Congress has done a much better job
of protecting and promoting the interests of soldiers, airmen, sailors and marines,
but there’s still more work to be done,” he said.
Rep. Joel Hefley, R-Colo., was named chairman of the subcommittee on readiness.
He previously served as chairman of the subcommittee on military installations
and facilities. The subcommittee will have primary jurisdiction over military
construction, installations and family housing, including the base closure process,
as well as the operation and maintenance of all military bases. It is responsible
for the readiness of military personnel, availability and condition of equipment,
civilian personnel and maintenance depots.
Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., is the chairman of the subcommittee on projection
forces. “Force projection is what our enemies see when they look at America’s
military,” said Bartlett. “I believe strongly that the most certain
path to peace is to prepare for war,” he said. “I look forward to
the challenge of moving from a model of fighting the last war to transforming
our military capability to be more flexible, agile, and formidable to meet a
wider array of threats from hostile forces—some of which call no one country
home,” said Bartlett.
“When I first joined the Armed Services Committee, there was a bad joke
among defense contractors that our military had been buying yesterday’s
technology to meet tomorrow’s demands. Since I have been on the committee,
I have been working to modernize our procurement practices to buy the performance
our military needs,” he said.
Among the subcommittee’s responsibilities will be Navy and Marine Corps
Programs (not including tactical aviation), deep strike systems, strategic lift
programs and Naval Reserve equipment.