Armed Services Panels Face Big Post-Election Shake-Ups

Law360 quoted Stephanie Barna about pending changes coming to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees in the midst of the midterm elections, particularly the retirement of ranking member and former chairman Sen. Jim Inhofe.

Inhofe is a "skilled politician" with a belief in good governance and in the importance of having a strong national defense strategy and using that to undergird policymaking, and "he's going to leave a significant hole" with his retirement, said Stephanie Barna, who was most recently general counsel for the then-Republican majority on the Senate committee, and who had worked directly with the senator.

"There were moments when I would watch, particularly as we were engaged in the NDAA markup … his absolute skill bringing people together to form consensus around an issue," she said.
Inhofe is also skilled at drawing out lawmakers on the committee with whom he may not agree on an issue to "really explain their rationale for the benefit of the entire committee in a cogent way," not only on the Democratic side but within his own party, Stephanie said.

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