Subcommittee Chairman Named

Rep. Jon C. Porter, R-Nev., has been named head of the civil service subcommittee of the House Government Reform Committee, the panel that has primary jurisdiction in the House over federal employee benefits and workplace issues. Porter, a second-term member with no established track record on those issues, steps into the position at a time when two major departments, Defense and Homeland Security, are overhauling their personnel systems and pressure is building to allow other agencies to do so as well, either piecemeal or as part of a comprehensive move.