House Reform panels in place

Rep. Todd Russell Platts (R-Pa.) will lead the newly titled Government Management, Finance and Accountability Subcommittee, with expanded jurisdiction to include public records and the Archives.

Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), the chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, expanded Platts' jurisdiction to include public records and the Archives.

Platts is planning a series of hearings in coming months that will likely culminate in his most ambitious legislation to date, a yet-unnamed act that rationalizes and consolidates existing financial oversight legislation into a single law. Platts is also planning legislation to cut government paper waste.

Several changes await the leaders of the committee. Most significantly, they will now oversee information technology policy, which had fallen under the jurisdiction of Rep. Michael R. Turner€s (R-Oh.) Federalism and the Census Subcommittee, formerly led by Rep. Adam Putnam (R-Fla.).

"This signals the importance of IT policy to Chairman Davis," said David Marin, deputy staff director and communications director for the House Government Reform Committee. "We think that by bringing it back to the full committee, there will be greater synergy between subcommittees and the full committee."

The move also reflects the connection between IT policy and procurement, which currently resides in the full committee. Finally, Davis believes all subcommittees have an IT component, such as IT financial management. The full staff will work closely with the subcommittee staff on all IT issues.

Davis waited until he knew the names of his chairs before defining each subcommittee, Marin said. Consequently, Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), whose interests are environmental policy and natural resources, will lead the Energy and Resources Subcommittee, which separated from the Regulatory Affairs Subcommittee.

Likewise, Chairman Jon Porter (R-Nev.), who hales from a district with many federal employees and retirees, will oversee the Federal Workforce and Agency Organization Subcommittee.