Considered one of the most powerful Senate committees, its broad mandate allowed it to report some of the most extensive and revolutionary legislation during the Cold War years, including the National Security Act of 1947. The committee tends to take a more bipartisan approach than other committees, as many of its members formerly served in the military or have major defense interests located in the states they come from.[2] The committee's regular legislative product is the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which has been passed by Congress and signed into law annually since 1962.[3]
The current chair is Republican Roger Wicker of Mississippi, and the Ranking Member is Democrat Jack Reed of Rhode Island.
Jurisdiction
According to the Standing Rules of the United States Senate, all proposed legislation, messages, petitions, memorials, and other matters relating to the following subjects are referred to the Armed Services Committee:[4]
Aeronautical and space activities pertaining to or primarily associated with the development of weapons systems or military operations.
Pay, promotion, retirement, and other benefits and privileges of members of the Armed Forces, including overseas education of civilian and military dependents.
*Please note that for the 119th Congress, subcommittee membership has not yet been announced and that the below table references that of the 118th Congress.
↑ At the beginning of the 107th Congress in January 2001 the Senate was evenly divided. With a Democratic president and vice president still serving until January 20, the Democratic vice president was available to break a tie, and the Democrats thus controlled the Senate for 17 days, from January 3 to January 20. On January 3 the Senate adopted S. Res. 7 designating Democratic senators as committee chairmen to serve during this period and Republican chairmen to serve effective at noon on January 20, 2001.
↑ On June 6, 2001, the Democrats took control of the Senate after Senator James Jeffords (VT) changed from the Republican Party to Independent and announced that he would caucus with the Democrats.
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