John McCain’s last and perhaps greatest role in the Senate was chairman of the Armed Services Committee, and now Republican members are faced with naming his replacement.
The majority must vote in his successor under the Senate rules, according to the office of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., which is likely to be senior member Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla.
Armed Services staff and Inhofe’s office said they had no comment Monday on the chairmanship.
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Any move by the Armed Services majority to elect a new chairman is unlikely to take place until after memorials in Arizona and Washington, D.C., and a Sunday burial service for McCain, who died Saturday following a year-long battle with brain cancer.
McCain had led the committee since 2015 and was known for grilling Pentagon officials over perceived waste and a lack of transparency.
Senate Armed Services oversees military policy and each year is tasked with writing the National Defense Authorization Act, a massive piece of legislation that sets policy and authorizes spending levels.
Last year, McCain held up President Trump’s nominees for weeks over complaints the military was not being forthcoming about its strategies in Afghanistan and Iraq, operations in Niger, and a recent spate of Navy ship collisions.
He left Washington in December as his illness progressed but stayed involved in the latest NDAA, which was signed into law by Trump this month.
Inhofe, an ardent party conservative and Trump supporter, is now the senior Republican member and has been handling the committee since McCain’s departure.
