[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
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U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
35-334 WASHINGTON : 2019
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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]