Susan Davis: “I rise in support of the Skelton-Berman-Lowey amendment. Mr. Chairman, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have highlighted…”

“I rise in support of the Skelton-Berman-Lowey amendment. Mr. Chairman, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have highlighted why Congress and the executive branch must do a better job of marshalling all elements of national power in support of U.S. goals abroad and ensure that future missions are not military-centric but joint interagency efforts. The creation of an interagency advisory panel required to make recommendations to each department is an excellent first step. As important as the creation of this new panel is, the coordination between the committees that we see here today is also critical. We know that part of the interagency problem is the rigid stovepipe structure found right here in this body. So while this amendment seeks to influence the executive branch, it will take reforms on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue to have the type of interagency coordination we need to address the challenges of the 21st century. I applaud the sponsors of this bill, Chairman Skelton, Chairman Berman and Chairwoman Lowey. They deserve an enormous amount of credit for bringing this forward, and I urge all of my colleagues to support it.”