KC Buzz Blog

Skelton to revive oversight subcommittee

   Per the TPMmuckraker: In the Democrat-controlled 110th Congress, the House Armed Services Committee wants to add a new subcommittee devoted to oversight and investigations. Missouri Rep. Ike Skelton, who will be chairman of the Armed Services Committee, has formally asked Nancy Pelosi to approve the creation of the subcommittee, according to a spokeswoman. The panel was abolished by Republicans in 1995 soon after they took control of Congress. Massachusetts Rep. Martin Meehan, a senior member of the Armed Services Committee, has said he wants to chair the new Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.

Posted by Keith Chrostowski

Skelton: Rangel has a point

    Missouri Democratic Rep. Ike Skelton, on Lou Dobbs' show last night: "The all-volunteer force is working and has worked. The downside, of course, is -- and I recently ran the statistics -- the downside on this, as most of the deaths that have occurred in Iraq are young people that come from small-town America or from the inner city. Charlie Rangel should be credited with pointing out the fact that people in the military do not represent a broad spectrum of America."

Posted by Keith Chrostowski

Ike: Ready To Rumble

  Missouri Rep. Ike Skelton today criticized the U.S. military's announcement that it could take 12 to 18 months before Iraqi forces are capable of providing for their country's security.

  "This timeline is too long...We must accelerate the timeline of training Iraqi security forces for the benefit of American force readiness and the Iraqi people.  To do so, the Defense Department must at least double the number of trainers assigned to these critical roles," Skelton said.

   Skelton, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, has been issuing letters and press releases for years now warning the White House and Pentagon that their predictions and planning in Iraq have been lacking.

   To Skelton's chagrin, his warnings have been mostly ignored.

   That's likely to change: If, as pundits expect, Democrats retake the House Nov. 7, Skelton is expected to become chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

   His warnings will be backed up by the power to hold hearings, move legislation, and issue subpoenas. And it's unlikely they will be ignored.

Posted by Matt Stearns

George Will: Ike Skelton is THE MAN

   One of KC Buzz Blog's Capitol Hill favorites, courtly Missouri Rep. Ike Skelton, gets a gooey write-up from conservative columnist George Will in the Oct. 2 Newsweek.

    Will points out that Skelton, poised to chair the House Armed Services Committee if the Democrats win the House in the midterms, is one of the last of the tough Truman Democrats, and revisits Skelton's history of prescient warnings to the Bush administration about its Iraq policy.

   Will concludes: "If Skelton, 74, becomes chairman, his agenda will be: "Oversight, oversight, oversight!" Expect the Armed Services Committee to resemble a highly successful Senate committee created in 1941 for oversight of defense spending during World War II. It was known by its chairman's name: the Truman Committee."

Posted by Matt Stearns

Skelton: Army is 'stretched thin.'

     Reached this afternoon in Mount Pleasant, Mo., as he campaigned around his district, Democratic Rep. Ike Skelton expanded on the remarks he made Thursday about beginning a phased withdrawal from Iraq:

    "In December of this year, we will have been in Iraq longer than we were involved in World War II. We are stretching our forces very thin. Forty percent of the U.S. Army equipment is in Iraq or Afghanistan. The Iraqis are going to have to have the capability and the will to glue their situation together."

Posted by David Goldstein

Skelton wants some troops out

  Missouri Democratic Rep. Ike Skelton said the United States should start a phased withdrawal of its troops from Iraq by the end of the year and begin turning over security functions to the Iraqis. "We have to make sure the Iraqi government and military can do the job," Skelton told about 60 supporters during a campaign stop Thursday. "We can't continually hold their hand."

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Posted by Keith Chrostowski