Rep. Adam Smith, a champion of increased Pentagon oversight who’s wary of increased spending on nuclear weapons, announced on Thursday his desire to be the next chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
Smith, who easily won re-election in a liberal Washington district on Tuesday, is a champion of green energy and a foe of creating a new military branch focused on space. He highlighted his advocacy for progressive causes and plans to scrutinize the Pentagon in a letter to Democrats on Thursday.
“Together, we have made strides on national security issues but much more must done to conduct vigorous oversight of the Trump administration and the Department of Defense,” Smith wrote.
The midterm elections on Tuesday have handed Democrats a new majority in the House, where they are expected to push investigations and oversight hearings on Trump.
Smith would take over a committee that oversaw two years of defense spending increases under Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas.
Smith, who is expected to be named chairman by January, has long warned that growing deficits and debt as well as recent tax cuts have made the higher spending on the Pentagon untenable.
The priorities Smith outlined to the Democratic caucus include cutting waste at the Pentagon, increasing oversight of military operations and civilian casualties overseas, protecting environmental laws, and advancing green energy.
The Armed Services Committee should take “substantial steps to reduce America’s over-reliance on nuclear weapons,” he wrote in his letter.
Smith also suggested the committee should oppose the Pentagon’s proposed policy barring many transgender people from serving in the military. The policy has been tied up in the federal courts for months.
“We need inclusive armed services that can attract the best, most talented people without arbitrary and discriminatory barriers that narrow the field of people who can serve their country,” he wrote.
