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U.S. Sen. Jack Reed has added the chairmanship of a military subcommittee to his roster as the 110th Congress gets under way.
The Rhode Islander, a West Point graduate and former Army Ranger who has emerged as a Democratic leader on military affairs, has already been chosen to sit on two powerful committees: Armed Services and Appropriations.
He announced today that he will chair the Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities, whose focus includes combating terrorism and preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
“The global war on terror is not a conventional war and Iraq is not the frontline. It is a special operations war, fought on many fronts and relying on intelligence and special operations troops,” Reed said in a statement. “As chairman of the Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee, my focus will be overseeing our military’s special operations."
And Reed will also head the subcommittee that regulates financial markets and the insurance industry, as the chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee on on Securities, Insurance, and Investment. Reed previously worked as a lawyer for the Providence firm Edwards & Angell, which represents several banks.
-- projo.com staff writer Steve Peoples
Reed said he would use the subcommittee to address a shortage of nurses in Rhode Island and would work to "increase Pell Grants and other need-based grant aid to ensure that more Rhode Island students and their families can afford a college education."
Rhode Island's senior senator has also been named as the acting chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Administration, filling in for Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., who is recovering from a brain hemorrhage.
On the House side, U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy will also serve on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Administration, according to a statement released today by the Rhode Island Democrat's office.
The House Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs has direct oversight of all military construction and veteran-related issues. And it has tremendous influence in military spending.
In fiscal year 2006, for example, the House Military Construction, Military Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill recommended a total FY appropriation of $136.9 billion, according to Kennedy's office.
