WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, will serve on the House Homeland Security, Veterans’ Affairs and Education and Labor committees, she announced on Tuesday.
“These assignments directly highlight my strengths and experience as well as the priorities I expressed as I sought office: resolving this pandemic and preparing for future pandemics; ensuring the health of our citizens craving more normal human interactions and engagement at home, school, work, church and entertainment venues; safely returning people to work and students to the classroom; making sure that we have a workforce that is well trained and ready for the jobs of the future; and seeing that we have affordable, accessible healthcare,” Miller-Meeks said. “I’m ready to get to work on behalf of Iowans.”
Miller-Meeks, a physician and 24-year U.S. Army veteran, noted that the Homeland Security Committee also has legislative jurisdiction over the National Strategic Stockpile. She frequently highlighted the stockpile’s value in preparing the country for future pandemics and suggested a number of potential improvements to that vital asset and the way it is administered.
“It will be a key priority of the committee to ensure that DHS is able to effectively respond to multiple ongoing incidents with proper resourcing and clarity of mandate, particularly in the midst of the current COVID-19 pandemic,” said Committee on Homeland Security Ranking Member John Katko. “As a doctor, lieutenant colonel, and public health official, Mariannette will be critical in the committee’s work to strengthen pandemic preparedness and protect the supply chain of the national strategic stockpile. I am thrilled to welcome Mariannette to the Committee on Homeland Security and look forward to her unique expertise on these critical issues.”
Miller-Meeks said her role on the Education and Labor and Veterans’ Affairs Committee will ensure that the University of Iowa, the Iowa City VA Hospital, the UI Hospitals and Clinics and its affiliated institutions have a stronger voice in Washington.
The Committee on Homeland Security was created by the U.S. House of Representatives in 2002 in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, as a select, non-permanent committee to provide congressional oversight over the development of the Department of Homeland Security. It was made permanent when it was designated as a standing committee in 2005.
The Committee on Education and Labor’s purpose is to ensure that Americans’ needs are addressed so that students and workers may move forward in a changing school system and a competitive global economy. It also holds congressional jurisdiction over health care, pension and retirement security, work health and safety, and other issues important to workers, employers and the economy.
The Committee on Veterans’ Affairs has congressional oversight over such issues as veterans’ hospitals, medical care, treatment compensation, vocational rehabilitation, education, pensions and the readjustment of service members to civilian life.
