Obama taps GOP's McHugh to lead Army

House Armed Services Committee ranking member John McHugh, R-N.Y., has been tapped to become Army secretary, President Obama announced Tuesday.

McHugh would join Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a former GOP House member from Illinois, as Republicans serving in a Democratic administration.

"John shares my belief that a sustainable national security strategy must include a bipartisan consensus at home," Obama said. "He hasn't agreed with every decision my administration has made, but he brings patriotism and a pragmatism that has won him respect on both sides of the aisle."

If confirmed, McHugh would replace Pete Geren, a former Democratic House member from Texas who became Army secretary in 2007 in the wake of revelations of substandard conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, is seen as the frontrunner to replace McHugh as ranking member, according to House GOP aides, although Armed Services Air and Land Forces Subcommittee ranking member Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., is the next most senior member.

A Thornberry spokesman would not comment on whether the Texas lawmaker has had any conversations with party leaders, but said he is interested in the ranking member slot.

"Mac is anxious to serve and he's certainly going to take the opportunity when it presents itself to discuss with the leader and others in leadership how he can serve," he said.

A Bartlett spokeswoman said her boss "remains interested" in the position, but added that the focus Tuesday should be on McHugh.

House Education and Labor Committee ranking member Howard (Buck) McKeon, R-Calif., also is giving the Armed Services post "serious consideration," his spokeswoman said. McKeon, a senior Armed Services member from a district with several large military installations, did not compete for the post last year, but his spokeswoman said he sees this as a "unique situation."

McHugh, 60, has represented upstate New York's 23rd District for nine terms. His district includes Fort Drum, where the Army's 10th Mountain Division is based.

As ranking member, McHugh has reached across the aisle, most recently on a defense acquisition reform bill that won unanimous congressional support. And he has generally supported Obama's Afghanistan policy, including his decision to send 21,000 more troops to the war zone.

McHugh also has adopted a more moderate approach than many of his GOP colleagues to Obama's plans to close the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He has refrained from accusing Democrats, as some Republicans have done, of wanting to put out a "welcome mat" for terrorists.

But McHugh, who is known for his candor, has also publicly criticized the Pentagon this year, particularly for its handling of the fiscal 2010 budget.

McHugh recently raised concerns that the Pentagon's internal budget deliberations were too secretive and has argued for more information to explain its decisions. He also has said he fears the sweeping changes made to defense programs in the fiscal 2010 request are dictating the outcome of the comprehensive Quadrennial Defense Review now under way.

About the Army's budget request, McHugh has called the 2.1 percent increase in funding "misleading" because it includes money for programs previously paid for out of supplemental spending.

"The Army is under tremendous pressure based partially on limited resources," McHugh said in his opening statement at a May 14 Army budget hearing. "If we continue down this path, something has to break."

Billy House contributed to this report.