By some accounts, including those of President Trump and many members of Congress who campaigned hard on the issue, the Veterans Administration is in need of deep reform. But that reform will mostly be overseen by quite a few members of Congress who have never sat in a hearing on veterans issues before and haven't learned how the levers of power work.
That's because the House Veterans Affairs Committee is plagued by high turnover rates and a large number of freshman members. Compared to its membership at the end of the 114th Congress, new names make up more than half the current Republican roster. Seven of the committee's eight new additions, who will help oversee Trump's proposed changes to the Department of Veterans Affairs, are freshman. Of nine seats on the Democratic side, three members are new to the committee, with only one, Rep. Jose Correa (Calif.), new to Congress.
Turnover on committees is one key indicator of which are the Hill's least-desired committee assignments. Overseeing the VA can be a relatively thankless task because of its rather limited scope and weak fundraising potential. Similarly, the House Small Business Committee's 21 overall seats are filled by 10 new committee members, including seven freshmen. That's 28 percent freshmen, well above the average of 16 percent for all House committees.
Lack of experience in Congress may be offset by direct experience of the freshmen committee members. For the VA Committee, new members include Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.), who served 12 years in the Army and lost his legs in Afghanistan, while Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.), a retired Marine Corps lieutenant general, is Congress's all-time highest-ranking officer.
