With Hunter at Armed Services, Pombo at Resources , Cox at Homeland Security, Californians Will Chair Five Committees -- California Capitol Hill Bulletin -- Volume 10, Bulletin 1 -- January 9, 2003

When the dust settled following this week's House committee chairmanship negotiations, the House Republican Leadership selected Californians to chair five full committees, perhaps the most chairmanships held by members from any single state in Congressional history.

In 2002, Californians already chaired two crucial Congressional committees -- Rep. David Dreier (Covina) chairs the Rules Committee and Rep. Bill Thomas (Bakersfield) chairs the Ways & Means Committee -- and each will retain his gavel in the new session.

Joining them will be three new chairs. In late 2002, Rep. Duncan Hunter (Alpine) secured the chairmanship of the Armed Services Committee for the new Congress. The combination of Rep. Hunter at Armed Services and Rep. Jerry Lewis (Redlands) chairing the Defense Subcommittee of Appropriations puts California in a strong position regarding military and defense matters.

During House organizational sessions in conjunction with the swearing-in of the 108th Congress this week, Rep. Richard Pombo won a hard-fought battle to chair the House Resources Committee. The panel has jurisdiction over water, public lands and forests, power, oceans, and endangered species -- all significant concerns for California. Also this week, Rep. Christopher Cox (Newport Beach) won the chairmanship of the newly-created Select Committee on Homeland Security, designed to coordinate the efforts between Congress and federal agencies tasked with protecting the nation from terrorist attack.

On January 7, Chairman Hunter announced that he would increase the number of Armed Services Subcommittees by one and restructure the panels' jurisdictions. The new subcommittees and chairs include the following: Curt Weldon (PA) will chair Tactical Air and Land Forces, with jurisdiction over Army and Air Force programs, and aviation and ammunition programs in all services; Joel Hefley (CO) will chair Readiness, which will deal with training, logistics and military construction programs; James Saxton (NJ) will chair Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities, overseeing counterproliferation and counterterror programs; John M. McHugh (NY) will chair Total Force, dealing with personnel issues; Terry Everett (AL) will chair Strategic Forces, with jurisdiction over missile defense, space and Department of Energy weapons programs; and Roscoe G. Bartlett (MD) will chair Projection Forces, which will oversee Navy and Marine Corps programs, and deep strike bombers systems.

In addition to the five full committee chair slots, nine other returning Californians chaired House Subcommittees during the 107th Congress, and all are likely to remain chairs of the same or another panel. These returning members include Reps. Jerry Lewis (Defense Appropriations), Buck McKeon (Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on 21st Century Competitiveness), Doug Ose (Government Reform Subcommittee on Energy Policy, Natural Resources and Regulatory Affairs), Ed Royce (International Relations Subcommittee on Africa), Elton Gallegly (International Relations Subcommittee on Europe), Ken Calvert (Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power), George Radanovich (Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Recreation and Public Lands), Dana Rohrabacher (Science Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics), and Wally Herger (Ways & Means Subcommittee on Human Resources).

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