Nancy Pelosi and a congressional delegation make secret (unannounced) trip to Afghanistan over the weekend. This is newsworthy and interesting in itself for several obvious reasons. One certainly is that what she has done is demonstrate that the Democrats, to the extent that it is possible, have taken the reins from the Republicans on shaping foreign policy in the war torn Mideast. This trip follows on the heels of Vice President Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s high profile sell-out-to-Turkey selling-out-the-Kurds mission.
From CNN:
The nine-member delegation included House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel, Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson and lone Republican Rep. Mac Thornberry, the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee who has announced he won't seek reelection.
The delegation focused on reconciliation efforts with the Taliban, among other topics.
"Meeting with and hearing directly from our troops and diplomats on the ground is essential for Congress to conduct effective oversight of our mission in Afghanistan," Pelosi said. "We will return to Washington strengthened with the facts and the first-hand knowledge we have gathered at this critical time for our nation's Afghanistan policy and inspired by the courage of our service members and diplomats on the
front lines."
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Two things jumped out at me about the make-up of this delegation. One is that while it made sense that the chair of the House Intelligence Committee be a member, the fact that this is Adam Schiff who now is the highest profile Democrat working on the Trump impeachment is, to say the least, ironic.
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The other thing that stood out to me is that they included the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee. I don’t know the protocol of such things but I doubt that there is a requirement that such delegations include a member of the opposition party. As a bi-partisan gesture it is certainly good for optics.
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Considering that Trump won 80% of the vote in his district in 2016. and Thornberry defeated his opponent Democrat Greg Sagan, who is expected to run again, in the 2018 midterm election with 82% of the vote, it is highly unlikely his seat will be filled with a Democrat.
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It is debatable whether if he had been asked Devon Nunes, who is the ranking member of the Intelligence Committee, would have agreed to go as the GOP member of the group. Of course I rather doubt his name would have been brought up except in jest.
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My hunch is that all the ranking members of the relevant House committees were considered and perhaps some were asked. It is possible that Mac Thornberry was the only one who agreed because he doesn’t have to worry about running again. By enabling the Democrats to describe their delegation as bipartisan he did them a favor.
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I wonder if the Republicans could find a Democratic member of the House to join them as a member of a similar delegation.
The poll: How many of the ranking (GOP) House committee members names do you recognize? If you scored more than three you beat me. If you recognized more than half and are a Democrat you are a political savant and if you got them all you are probably Steve Kornacki. If you really want to test your political acumen see how many Democratic chairs you are familiar with.
Full list of Republican Ranking Members for the 116th Congress:
- Agriculture: Rep. Mike Conaway (R-TX, 11th)
- Appropriations: Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX, 12th)
- Armed Services: Rep, Mac Thornberry (R-TX, 13th)
- Budget: Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR, 3rd)
- Education and the Workforce: Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC, 5th)
- Energy and Commerce: Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR, 2nd)
- Financial Services: Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC, 10th)
- Foreign Affairs: Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX, 10th)
- Homeland Security: Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL, 3rd)
- Intelligence: Rep Devon Nunes
- Judiciary: Doug Collins (R-GA, 9th)
- Natural Resources: Rob Bishop (R-UT, 1st)
- Oversight and Government Reform: Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH, 4th)
- Science, Space and Technology: Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK, 3rd)
- Small Business: Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH, 1st)
- Transportation and Infrastructure: Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO, 6th)
- Veterans’ Affairs: Rep. Phil Roe (R-TN, 1st)
- Ways and Means: Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX, 8th)
Monday, Oct 21, 2019 · 3:00:42 PM +00:00 · HalBrown
A commenter writes: “Thornberry is the rep of the district adjacent to mine to the north. He’s one of the more knowledgeable on military affairs. While conservative he is strictly business and serious about his job, unlike a lot of the other gop-nuts.”