25-member congressional delegation to visit Guyana

DPI, Guyana, Friday, August 17, 2018

A 25-member delegation comprising United States congressmen and senior military personnel will be in Guyana within the coming weeks on a familiarization visit.

The visit was yesterday announced by Minister of State, Joseph Harmon during a post-Cabinet press conference.

The minister said this visit is testimony of growing confidence in Guyana on the international scene, as well as the strengthening of US/Guyana relations.

The team will comprise nine congressmen, Chairman, Bob Goodlatte, and representatives John Rutherford, Mark Sandford, John Curtis, Todd Rokita, Richard Hudson, Steve Cohen, Scott Peters and Darrel Issa.

Sergeant First Class Alexander Morrow, Lieutenant Colonel Eric Hanson, Staff Sergeant Michael Layton, Lieutenant Colonel Sean Foster, Robert Goodlatte, Landon Sanford, Sue Curtis, Lynn Peters, Shelly Husband, Braden Ritchie, Eric Bagwell, Ryan Breitenbach, Andrea Loving, Scott Bennett, Jamie Miller and Maunica Sthanki are the other members of the delegation.

Below are the professional profiles of the congressional members and military personnel.

Bob Goodlatte represents the Sixth Congressional District of Virginia in the United States House of Representatives. In the 113th Congress, he was elected as Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. He has been an active Member of the Judiciary Committee, serving in a variety of leadership positions on the Committee. He is also a senior member of the House Agriculture Committee where he currently serves on the Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture and the Subcommittee on Commodity Exchanges, Energy, and Credit.

John Rutherford is a freshman member of Congress, Representing Florida’s 4th Congressional District. Before being elected to Congress, he served Duval County as Sheriff for 12 years. Congressman Rutherford sits on the House Judiciary Committee, and the House Appropriations Committee where he serves on three subcommittees: Transportation, Housing and Urban Development; Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies; and State and Foreign Operations.

Inventor, entrepreneur and now tech policy leader, Congressman Darrell Issa represents the 49th District of California in Congress. He is the former CEO of Directed Electronics, a leading auto security technology company he founded and built in Southern California in mid-1990s. The holder of 37 patents and the former Chairman of the Consumer Technology Association, Congressman Issa is the nation’s preeminent voice in Washington advancing smart policy to protect intellectual property, creativity and to keep America at the forefront of the world’s innovation.

John Curtis, represents Utah’s 3rd Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives and serves on the Small Business, Natural Resources, and Foreign Affairs Committees. Since being elected to the House of Representatives in November 2017, he has hit the ground running by introducing three bills and cosponsoring dozens more. He was named the #1 Top Elected Official on Social Media 2015 by the Government Social Media group and has been recognized by Forbes for his commitment to citizen engagement.

Todd Rokita is the Representative for Indiana’s Fourth Congressional District since 2011. As Indiana’s youngest Secretary of State, from 2003 to 2011, Todd implemented Indiana’s landmark voter identification law, which he successfully defended to the United States Supreme Court in 2008. Since the beginning of his time in Congress in 2011. He has served on the Budget Committee and was selected to lead as the Vice Chairman in 2015. He also serves as the subcommittee Chair of Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education, where he co-wrote the Every Student Succeeds Act that was signed into law and rolled back unnecessary mandates from the Obama Administration.

Congressman Richard Hudson is serving his third term in the United States Congress representing North Carolina’s 8th Congressional District. Congressman Hudson has the privilege of representing Fort Bragg, North Carolina—the largest U.S. Army installation in the world. As the voice for this critical installation in Congress, Commissioner Hudson works to advance military security, enhance cooperation, and promote stability and democracy in the OSCE region. He also co-chairs the Transatlantic Parliamentary Group, a transatlantic caucus that includes members of the U.S. Congress and the European Parliament and aims to assess international security threats, economic crises, and social issues.

Mark Sanford represents the First District of South Carolina. He was sworn-in as a Member of the 113th Congress after winning a special election in May 2013, and he currently serves on the Budget, Transportation & Infrastructure, and Oversight and Government Reform Committees. Mark served as Governor of South Carolina from 2003 until 2011. Prior to serving as governor, he represented South Carolina’s First Congressional District in Washington from 1995 until 2001.

Congressman Steve Cohen is a fourth-generation Memphian who has dedicated his life to public service. In January of 2017, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi appointed Congressman Cohen to serve on the powerful House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee to set the Democratic policy agenda and nominate Democratic Members for committee assignments.  In February 2017, Leader Pelosi appointed Congressman Cohen to serve on the House Ethics Committee.

Congressman Scott Peters serves California’s 52nd Congressional District, which includes the cities of Coronado, Poway and most of northern San Diego. Scott Peters currently serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where he advocates for investment in basic scientific research and supports the military’s goals to enhance their energy security. He also serves on the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. Scott Peters is a civic leader who has made improving the quality of life in San Diego his life’s work. In 2001, the governor appointed him to the Commission on Tax Policy in the New Economy, and in 2002, the Speaker of the Assembly appointed Scott to the California Coastal Commission.

Sergeant First Class Alexander Morrow

Sergeant First Class (SFC) Alexander Morrow is currently the NCOIC for the Office of the Chief Legislative Liaison Congressional Travel Section. SFC Morrow is a United States Army Infantryman who is certified in his field and a graduate of the US Army’s Senior Leader Course. Prior to his selection for the Congressional Escort NCO program, he was the Casket Platoon Sergeant in Echo Company (Honor Guard), 3D US Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard).   He assumed his role in The Old Guard following his assignment as a Senior Drill Sergeant in US Army Infantry School, Fort Benning, GA.

Staff Sergeant Michael Layton

Staff Sergeant (SSG) Michael Layton, originally from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, began his Army career in the Reserves as a Watercraft Operator in 2001.  He attended Basic Combat Training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, and Advanced Individual Training (AIT) at Fort Eustis, Virginia, before being assigned to the 464th Small Boat Company at Fort Story, Virginia.  He earned a position with the Long-Range Surveillance Company and was chosen by the squadron commander to act as a Mortar Squad Leader for a newly formed mortar platoon. SSG Layton currently serves as a Congressional Travel Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) in the Office of the Chief Legislative Liaison. SSG Layton has been married to Randi Dawn Layton for 10 years.

Lieutenant Colonel Eric Hanson

Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Eric Hanson was raised in La Crosse, Wisconsin.   He earned a BA from Tufts University in 2000 and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant the Army through the ROTC program at MIT.  After earning his JD at the University of Minnesota in 2003 he entered active duty as a Judge Advocate in the U.S. Army. From 2012 to 2014, he was assigned to Fort Campbell, Kentucky as Brigade Judge Advocate in 4th Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), including an eight-month deployment to Afghanistan. He currently serves a legislative counsel for the Office of the Chief of Legislative Liaison’s Investigations and Legislation Division. His portfolio includes Environmental issues and congressional liaison support for the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works.

Lieutenant Colonel Sean Foster

Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Sean Foster is currently serving as a Legislative Counsel in the Army’s Office of the Chief Legislative Liaison, in the Investigations and Legislative Division. Before this assignment, LTC Foster was an Army Fellow in the office of Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri. He began his Army career as an enlisted Armor Crewman with the Georgia National Guard in 1994, and was selected to attend the United States Military Academy, graduating in 2000 as an Infantry Officer. He graduated in 2012 with a Masters of Law, specialising in criminal law.

Stacy Carmichael

Images: congress.gov