BORDER WARS: The House Armed Services Committee this morning holds its first formal oversight hearing of the 116th Congress. Its new chairman, Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., summoned two Pentagon officials to appear before the panel. They’ll be grilled on President Trump’s decision to deploy active-duty troops to provide construction and logistical support to civilian authorities to bolster border security.

“We want an explanation of the policy. We want to shine a light on it and make it clear in my view that there is no legitimate purpose here,” Smith said in an NPR interview. “And if there’s no legitimate purpose, then why are you wasting the amount of money that you’re wasting to put them down there?”