Fewer Vets in New Congress

According to the Navy Times, which surveyed the incoming 106th Congress from a veteran's perspective:

• The new Senate could have as few as 38 military veterans – five below those in the current body.

• If Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., wins his bid for re-election, the results of which are still in doubt, that would add one more veteran, giving the Senate 39, four short of the present 43.

• The new House of Representatives will have 134 vets, three fewer.

• All new senators with military experience happen to be Democrats.

• All new representatives with military experience are Republicans.

• Of the nine newly elected senators, only three are vets.

• The number of Senate members with military service has been diminished by retirements, election losses and the death of Paul Coverdell of Georgia, a former Army captain.

• There will be at least one seat open for a Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, which oversees defense policy, because Charles Robb, D-Va., a Marine combat veteran, lost to George Allen, the former Virginia governor, a non-veteran.

• None of the three new senators with military experience has shown interest in an Armed Services Committee assignment.

• A freshman who did not serve in the military, Ben Nelson, D-Neb., has.

• The three freshman senators who have served in the military are Thomas R. Carper, D-Del.; Jon Corzine, D-N.J., and Bill Nelson, D-Fla.

• Freshman House members with military experience who have expressed interest in serving on the Armed Services or Veterans committees are: Jo Ann Davis, R-Va.; Mike Pence, R-Ind.; Edward L. Schrock, R-Va., and Rob Simmons, R-Conn.

• Other new House members with military experience but who have expressed interest in serving on non-military committees are: Todd Akin, R-Mo.; Henry Brown, R-S.C.; Brad Carson, D-Okla.; Darrell Issa, R-Calif.; Mark Steven Kirk, R-Ill.; Tom Osborne, R-Neb.; C.L. Otter, R-Idaho, and Mike Rogers, R-Mich.