Rep. Young regains prime homeland security role
Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, was voted vice chairman of the Homeland Security Committee.
The House voted at the beginning of the 109th Congress to make the toothless and temporary Homeland Security Committee a permanent standing committee with significant, but not comprehensive, jurisdiction over the Department of Homeland Security. Young was one of several committee chairmen who fought hard to retain jurisdiction over portions of the government’s homeland security efforts on the grounds that a transfer of power would result in a loss of institutional expertise over the subject matter.