PORT ANGELES — Rep. Norm Dicks intends to bring more accountability to military spending as the new chairman of House appropriations subcommittee overseeing defense.
“I’m a big believer that we ought to have more hearings and oversight,” said the Belfair Democrat after he toured Port Angeles’ new water treatment plant on Friday.
Dicks, who represents the state’s 6th Congressional District, which includes the North Olympic Peninsula, was officially designated the chairman of the subcommittee March 4.
He replaced Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., who died Feb. 8.
Defense spending makes up about half of the discretionary spending in the federal budget.
Dicks said that waste can be eliminated to keep that spending in check while providing funding needed for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“We’re going to try to see if we can hold down defense spending, too,” he said.
Dicks said more oversight over contractors would significantly help control unnecessary spending.
“There’s a lot of waste, especially on the contractor side of things,” he said.
Dicks, 69, was first elected to Congress in 1976.
He stepped down as chairman of the House Interior and Environment appropriations subcommittee when he took the new chairmanship. He is now vice chairman of that committee.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.