House Homeland Security Committee Gains Nine Freshman Lawmakers

Nearly a third of the House Homeland Security Committee’s roster in the 116^th Congress will be first-time lawmakers, and half of those new members will bring military and national security experience with them.

The House Homeland Security Committee will gain four freshman Democratic members in the 116^th Congress, two of which have national security or military experience, along with six House members returning to the committee after a hiatus.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) released the list of new members on the committee Tuesday night. Freshman lawmakers include Rep. Max Rose (D-N.Y.), an Army veteran who served in Afghanistan from 2012 to 2013, and earned a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.

Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), a former CIA analyst who has served in a variety of national security-related roles at the State Department, Defense Department and the National Security Council, was also nominated to the homeland security committee. Slotkin will also serve on the House Armed Services Committee.

Fellow freshman lawmakers Reps. Xochitl Torres Small (D-N.M.) and Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.) will both serve on the homeland security committee, and Torres Small has also been selected to join HASC.

The House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee also nominated Reps. Al Green (D-Texas) and Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.), Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.), Val Demings (D-Fla.), Dina Titus (D-Nev.) and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) to return to the homeland security committee.

Returning members from the 115^th Congress include Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.), who has returned to the chairman position he previously held from 2007 to 2011, as well as Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), Jim Langevin (D-R.I.), Cedric Richmond (D-La.), Donald Payne Jr. (D-N.J.), Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.) and Lou Correa (D-Calif.).

Five new Republicans will also join the House Homeland Security Committee. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), new committee ranking member, announced Wednesday that Navy veteran Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), along with Army veterans Rep. Van Taylor (R-Texas) and Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn) will join the committee.

Reps. John Joyce (R-Pa.) and Michael Guest (R-Miss.) are also new committee members elected in 2018. Reps. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), Peter King (R-N.Y), John Katko (R-N.Y.), John Ratcliffe (R-Texas), Clay Higgins (R-La.),  Mark Walker (R-N.C.) and Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.) will all return to the committee.