Rep. Mica gets Oversight subcommittee chairmanship

Former House Transportation Committee Chairman Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) will assume the gavel of a subcommittee on the House Oversight panel Thursday.

When the 113th Congress officially convenes around noon on Thursday afternoon, Mica will be handing the reigns of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) after four years as the panel's ranking member and two as its chairman.

House rules prevented Mica from seeking to retain the Transportation Committee chairmanship, but Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said this week that Mica would helm the Oversight panel's subcommittee on Government Operations.

The move gives Mica a new perch from which to target the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Amtrak. 

Issa said Mica and the lawmakers who will be chairmen of subcommittees on his panel were selected because they have "demonstrated a dedication to the [Oversight] Committee’s mission of establishing a more efficient, transparent and solvent federal government.

"The American people have a right to expect that their tax dollars are being used responsibly and judiciously," Issa said in a written statement. "We owe it to them to seek out waste, fraud and abuse and hold those responsible for mismanagement accountable. This team is dedicated to working tirelessly on behalf of the American people to create a more efficient federal government that better serves taxpayers.” 

As he fended off a primary challenge from former Rep. Sandy Adams (R-Fla.) in a member-versus-member race last year, Mica held a series of Transportation Committee hearings targeting the TSA and Amtrak for mismanagement.

In a report released last month detailing the accomplishments of the Transportation Committee during his two years as the panel's chairman, Mica touted his efforts to conduct "strong oversight to help curtail federal agency waste of taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars."

TSA has questioned the jurisdiction of committees other than the House Homeland Security Committee to investigate its operations, but Mica took the agency to task frequently for refusing to testifying in several Transportation Committee hearings.

The long-time Florida lawmaker also famously went to a McDonald's restaurant near Capitol Hill to protest Amtrak's spending on food and beverage sales, arguing that concessions on board the company's trains were costing taxpayers exorbitantly.

Mica has said that he will remain a member of the House Transportation Committee, leading to speculation that he might seek a subcommittee chairmanship on the panel he most recently led.

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