The four Senate and House defense oversight committees will look very different when the new Congress is seated in January, after Republicans took control of the Senate and gained more seats in the House than many polls previously suggested.
On the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is poised to take over as chairman. Current Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) is retiring, and subcommittee chairmen Mark Udall (D-Colo.) and Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) lost their elections, leaving a vacuum in Democratic leadership on the committee. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), who is retiring, is the only Republican on the committee not returning in January.
On the Senate Appropriations Committee, Thad Cochran (R-Miss.)–who barely survived a primary challenge earlier this year–looks set to resume his chairmanship, which he held in 2005 and 2006. Cochran currently serves as the defense subcommittee ranking member and would bring an understanding of the defense programs–and deep ties to industry–to the full committee.
SAC member Mark Begich (D-Alaska) has not conceded his race yet and is awaiting a count of absentee ballots, but he is about 8,000 votes behind opponent Dan Sullivan. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) lost handily to Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), and Mary Landrieu (D-La.) is headed to a runoff election next month after winning the Louisiana election with only 42 percent of the votes. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) retired, leaving additional spots to fill for Democrats in January.
On the House side, Republicans fared much better than their Democratic colleagues. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) and member Jon Runyan (R-N.J.) are retiring, as is seapower and projection forces subcommittee ranking member Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.). No Republican running for reelection lost. Across the aisle, though, it appears seven additional committee members may not be returning in January. Colleen Hanabusa (D-Hawaii) ran in the special election to fill the late Daniel Inouye’s Senate seat but lost in the primary election to Brian Schatz. Ron Barber is in a virtual tie with Air Force veteran Martha McSally, losing by fewer than 50 votes. Carol Shea-Porter (D-N.H.), Dan Maffei (D-N.Y.), Scott Peters (D-Calif.), Bill Enyart (D-Ill.) and Pete Gallego (D-Texas) all lost their reelection bids.
McKeon has already endorsed his vice chairman, Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), to take over the chairmanship next year. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) has also said he’s interested in vying for the job. The Republican steering committee will select a new chairman when Congress reconvenes in two weeks.
The House Appropriations Committee is the only of the defense committees virtually unaffected by the election. Jim Moran (D-Va.) and Bill Owens (D-N.Y.) retired, and Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) lost his bid for Chambliss’s senate seat, making them the only three members of the defense subcommittee not returning next year.
Despite all the changes in congressional membership and leadership, Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall told reporters Wednesday morning that nothing really changes for him.
“The business of defense and working with the committees is going to just go on, I don’t see any fundamental change,” he said. He noted that McCain has been around a long time and has a deep understanding of defense acquisition projects, which makes the transition fine from his perspective.
From industry’s perspective, having McCain in charge is somewhat of a mixed bag–he’s passionate about defense spending, but he’s proven to be a very aggressive watchdog with the major defense acquisition programs, said Jimmy Thomas, legislative director for the National Defense Industrial Association.
“He’s going to hold people accountable, so that’s a good thing, we need more of that,” he said. “But I think there’s an opportunity for him to reach out to the commercial side and understand that there’s a huge part of the industry that we could leverage coming from the commercial side–we just have to let them know we’re willing to do business with them and not going to make it difficult to do that.”
Thomas said many commercial companies are disincentivized to join the defense industrial base because defense procurement is riddled with continuing resolutions, sequestration and complex acquisition regulations. Thomas said Thornberry already enjoys a good relationship with industry and is seen as a knowledgeable, deliberative leader who can help address these industrial base problems. He added he hopes McCain will take the time to reach out to lower-tier defense suppliers and commercial companies to learn more about the entire defense industry, rather than focusing his attention only on the prime contractors.
Ultimately, though, Thomas said the defense industry is pleased to have “two strong defense guys from the same party [that] will hopefully provide some relief.”