The Senate Armed Services Committee has shaken up its leadership and placed junior members as the heads of several subpanels thanks to a new rule.
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) is now chairman of the Emerging Threats and Capabilities subcommittee, taking on the role from Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), while Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), will now be the chairwoman of the Airland subcommittee, taking over for Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), according to a statement from the full committee.
King will move on to be the head of the Strategic Forces subpanel, taking over for Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), while Peters will lead the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
The game of musical chairs was due to a Democratic caucus rule change, adopted two months prior, that is meant to more evenly dole out subcommittee gavels, as first reported by CQ Roll call.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) proposed the rule to make sure that more powerful Democrats on prime committees don’t also head a subcommittee until more junior members are allowed the chance.
Both Duckworth and Kelly are military veterans; Duckworth is a former Army helicopter pilot who was wounded in Iraq, while Kelly was a Navy pilot and a NASA astronaut.
The new roles are likely to give more clout to the two newer members, as Duckworth has only sat on the Senate Armed Services Committee since 2019 and Kelly, who beat fellow veteran Sen. Martha McSally (R-Ariz) for his seat in November, was named to the committee earlier this month.