Government Reform chief may add homeland security subcommittee

House Government Reform Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., might take advantage of an exodus of subcommittee chairmen to make organizational changes, including the possible creation of a homeland security oversight panel, House Republican aides say.

Three subcommittee chairmen have retired or left their posts, while another, Human Rights and Wellness Subcommittee Chairman Dan Burton, R-Ind., is planning to leave the committee, aides say. The departures give Davis, who has expressed interest in eliminating the Technology Subcommittee, a chance to revamp his panel with a minimum of turf-related tension.

A Davis spokesman said the chairman considers changes at the beginning of every Congress, and the committee will not make any decisions until its organizational meeting in the next few weeks. The committee is waiting to learn who will be appointed to fill committee vacancies before determining subcommittee chairmen and jurisdictions, the spokesman said. "We're sort of in a holding pattern for now," the spokesman said.

House aides say while Davis has floated the possibility of a homeland security subcommittee, he has not yet decided whether the panel would stand alone, or if the title of the National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations Subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., would simply change to reflect its homeland security oversight role.

If a separate subcommittee is created, it is not clear whether Shays, who often bucks his party's leaders, would chair it or if he would retain his current post. A spokeswoman for Shays said he was waiting to see how Davis structures the subcommittees before commenting. Although Shay's subcommittee held homeland security oversight hearings in the last Congress, GOP aides speculated that a new subcommittee could spark turf wars with the newly permanent House Homeland Security Committee, which also has oversight powers.

The jurisdictions of the other six committees "could be squished together" to accommodate the possible homeland security subcommittee, a House GOP aide said. Some subcommittees could take on new responsibilities, assuming responsibility for issues likely to be prominent in the 109th Congress, including the census, regulatory overhaul and postal issues, another GOP aide said.

The committee will likely name four new subcommittee chairmen. In addition to Burton's departure, Energy Policy Subcommittee Chairman Doug Ose, R-Calif., retired; Technology Subcommittee Chairman Adam Putnam, R-Fla., left the committee in August, and Civil Service Subcommittee Chairwoman Jo Ann Davis, R-Va., took a leave of absence. The name of Rep. Ron Lewis, R-Ky., had been bandied about as a possible replacement for Jo Ann Davis, a GOP aide said, but he will be leaving the committee, his spokesman said. Rep. Candice Miller, R-Mich., also could head up a subcommittee, a GOP aide said.