As a retired Marine general, James Mattis needs a waiver passed by the House and Senate exempting him from law that requires a seven-year waiting period for retired military officers to serve as defense secretary. | Getty House Democrats threaten to revolt over Mattis waiver

House Democrats are threatening to revolt over the waiver needed for James Mattis to serve as defense secretary after the Trump transition team blocked him from testifying before the House Armed Services Committee.

As a retired Marine general, Mattis needs a waiver passed by the House and Senate exempting him from law that requires a seven-year waiting period for retired military officers to serve as defense secretary.


He had been scheduled to testify Thursday before the House Armed Services Committee on civilian control of the military following his Senate confirmation hearing, but the cancellation Wednesday now has Democrats up in arms.

"I'm going to urge all House Democrats to vote no on the waiver,” said Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. “The Republicans just spent eight years complaining about the executive branch ... usurping legislative branch power, and here's the first move of the new administration is to ignore us on something.”

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters that Democrats would be “very wary” of voting for the waiver without Mattis’ testimony.

Rep. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) said he had been inclined to support the waiver, but he was no longer sure now that Mattis wasn't testifying.

"If Gen. Mattis had come over and answered the questions, I certainly think I would support that," Walz said. "This just complicates it, and it doesn't make any sense."

Senate Democrats could prevent the waiver from passing, as a provision included in the December continuing spending resolution set up a 60-vote threshold. But House Democrats can do little without getting Republicans to oppose the waiver, too.

It wasn't entirely clear why the Trump transition team changed course on Mattis' House testimony. House Armed Services Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) told POLITICO the transition team informed him of the change Tuesday night.

“The transition team told me last night that they would not allow him to come and testify, even though we have been communicating with them since December, and even though Mattis himself is enthusiastic to come testify,” Thornberry said in an interview.

Thornberry said the transition team told him they were concerned about adding extra public settings for questions that could complicate the confirmation process, as well as the fact that Mattis would be testifying on civilian control specifically in the House, and not the Senate, despite his Thursday hearing in the Senate.

“I’m disappointed,” Thornberry added. “I think it’s a mistake. This is a big issue — it hadn’t come up in 67 years — it deserves a hearing. I think it was an opportunity to help him. He’s very well regarded, but it was an opportunity to help him get off on a good start relationally with the committee."

Thornberry and House aides said Mattis had indicated he was eager to testify on civilian control of the military, but one source close to the transition told POLITICO that the retired general did not, in fact, want to testify before both chambers on Thursday.

Alleigh Marre, a Trump transition spokeswoman for Mattis, declined to say why Mattis was pulled from the hearing. "Gen. Mattis will be participating in his Senate confirmation hearing tomorrow,” she said in an email, declining to elaborate.

Despite the change of plans, Thornberry is not changing plans for the committee to mark up the waiver language on Thursday, in order to send the measure to the floor on Friday and have the wavier approved before President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in Jan. 20.

Mattis, who retired from the military in 2013, is testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee for his confirmation hearing Thursday. That panel plans to approve the waiver afterward, with a Senate floor vote to follow later Thursday or Friday.

House Armed Services Republicans said they felt bypassing the House was a mistake, but it wouldn’t stop them from voting for the waiver.

“It’s a big mistake by the administration not to have him come and talk to us,” said Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.). “On something that’s this momentous, where you are making an exemption to the law — it doesn’t change my mind, but he should have come in and talk to the House about it.”

Rep. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) said was disappointed and frustrated, as she has concerns about the waiver as a retired service member, but she'll ultimately vote in favor of it following a private conversation with Mattis.

"I don’t understand their motives, but it should have happened," McSally said of the hearing. "We had the potential for a good, bipartisan vote, but maybe lost that potential now over this move ... and it could have been avoided."

Thornberry said he was moving forward with the waiver Thursday because he wants Mattis in place to be confirmed by Inauguration Day to prevent a gap at the Pentagon from outgoing Defense Secretary Ash Carter to Mattis.

Still, he said he was concerned the transition team was only looking in the near-term — they told him they were concerned about adding extra public settings for questions that could complicate the confirmation — and not at the long-term implications.

“It is hard for people who are focused on just Senate confirmation — and they’ve got a bunch of them going on at the same time — it is hard for them to think about the House, much less what may be in the long-term best interest of the new secretary, the department and so forth.”

Heather Caygle and Tim Starks contributed to this report.