WASHINGTON ― A confirmation hearing has been scuttled for Anthony Tata, President Donald Trump’s embattled pick for the Pentagon’s top policy job, following stiff opposition to the nomination from Democrats and wavering by some Republicans. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., said Thursday he and President Donald Trump […]
Joe Gould
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WASHINGTON ― Senate Republicans’ proposed $1 trillion coronavirus relief package includes at least $7 billion for weapons programs, part of $29 billion for defense overall. The 177-page draft appropriations legislation unveiled Monday included funding for military helicopters, aircraft, ships and missile defense systems. The bill also includes $11 billion to […]
WASHINGTON ― As Congress works to reach a deal on their next stimulus package, trade groups are urging lawmakers to extend the window for reimbursing government contractor costs for COVID-19 connected disruptions and cost increases, set to close Sept. 30. Government contractors, “are continuing to face the same ‘ready state’ […]
WASHINGTON ― The White House and Senate Republicans are nearing an agreement on a $1 trillion-plus economic rescue proposal that would also seek $21 billion for defense, according to a draft obtained by the New York Times on Thursday. The emerging GOP proposal would include $11 billion in payments to […]
WASHINGTON ― Congress went two-for-two swatting down measures to slash the national security budget by $74 billion, rejecting a proposal Wednesday from Sen. Bernie Sanders to redirect the money toward domestic needs. The Senate voted 23-77 against an amendment to its version of the $740.5 billion annual defense policy bill. […]
WASHINGTON ― The Senate Armed Services Committee has set an open hearing July 30 for Anthony Tata, President Donald Trump’s embattled pick for the Pentagon’s top policy job ― but that won’t be the first time the committee gathers to hear from the nominee. Tata, a Fox News contributor, staunch […]
WASHINGTON―The Republican-controlled U.S. Senate rejected a bipartisan measure to block the military from giving offensive surplus equipment to state and local U.S. police departments. The Senate voted 51-49 on the proposed amendment to the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act. The action comes amid civil unrest and a national debate over […]
WASHINGTON ― No funding would be available for live nuclear weapons testing under an amendment the House adopted to its version of the annual defense policy bill. The amendment from Rep. Ben McAdams, D-Utah, was adopted, 227-179, in a mostly party-line vote. The House is expected Tuesday to vote to […]
WASHINGTON ― Legislation from progressive Democrats to slash authorized defense spending by 10 percent is expected to fail in the Senate this week, with uncertain prospects in the House. But their hope is to advance an internal debate over defense spending, should Democrats take back the White House or the […]
WASHINGTON ― Epirus, a venture-backed startup offering a counter-drone capability, launched quietly enough two years ago, but it’s making noise by bringing together key veterans of Microsoft, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon ― and by landing its first deal with a name-brand defense prime contractor. Epirus chief executive Leigh Madden was […]
WASHINGTON ― The chairmen of the House foreign affairs and intelligence committees are pushing a measure meant to extend the last remaining U.S.-Russia arms control agreement amid fears President Donald Trump will let it lapse. Led by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., the proposal would require congressional […]
WASHINGTON ― Eighty defense industry executives have written to top congressional leaders to ask for emergency appropriations to reimburse defense contractors’ coronavirus-related costs. Led by the Aerospace Industries Association, which represents 300 large and small suppliers to the Department of Defense, the letter called for, “an appropriate level of funding […]
WASHINGTON — Pentagon leaders need “around $10 billion” in the next pandemic aid package to cover defense contractors’ coronavirus-related costs, according to a top defense leader. But it’s unclear how the hefty funding handout will square with Republican skepticism of new deficit spending after already approving aid packages worth trillions. […]
WASHINGTON ― The House Appropriations Committee approved separate measures to end the 2001 and 2002 war authorizations, which underpin U.S. counter-terror operations―just the latest attempt by lawmakers to curb President Donald Trump’s war making powers. At the panel’s deliberations on the fiscal 2021 defense spending bill on Tuesday, members voted […]
WASHINGTON ― Fired-up House appropriators are expected to vote Tuesday to reject the Pentagon’s requests for added budget flexibility over the President Donald Trump’s diversion of military funds to build his promised U.S.-Mexico border wall. In a sign of fraying relations between the Department of Defense and Capitol Hill, the […]
WASHINGTON ― With Trump administration poised to impose a governmentwide ban on contractors using Huawei and other China-made telecommunications equipment, trade groups say that companies, still reeling from the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic, should get more time. The administration plans to finalize regulations that would prohibit government contracting […]
WASHINGTON ― The Pentagon would have $758 million to help mid-tier defense firms wether the financial effects of the coronavirus pandemic as part of the annual defense spending bill approved by the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday. But the aid, which was part of the panel’s proposed $694.6 billion bill, […]
WASHINGTON ― House appropriators on Tuesday approved a spending bill that would block plans from defense hawks to give the Pentagon a stronger hand in crafting nuclear weapons budgets. The House Appropriations Committee passed their Energy-Water bill, which contained the provision, by a voice vote. The $49.6 billion spending bill […]
WASHINGTON ― A bipartisan group of lawmakers are urging the Pentagon to move quicker to stop buying components for the F-35 fighter jet from Turkey. Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla.; Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.; Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Chris Can Hollen, D-Md., complained in a letter to Defense Secretary Mark Esper on […]
The proposal was to transfer $1 billion to the pandemic preparedness from the next-generation intercontinental ballistic missile, for which Northrop Grumman is the sole competitor. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., sponsored it, and while HASC Chair Adam Smith, D-Wash., supported it, most HASC Democrats did not. “The United States does not […]
WASHINGTON ― The House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday delivered a near-unanimous bipartisan rebuke to President Donald Trump’s plans to pull about 10,000 U.S. troops from Germany. During its markup of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, the panel voted 49-7 to approve the measure. It was backed by HASC’s […]
Under the proposal, the defense secretary would decide how the No. 3 civilian job is replaced. The panel approved Ranking Member Mac Thornberry’s amendment during its markup of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act on Wednesday. It was approved by an unanimous voice vote as part of a package of […]
WASHINGTON ― Lawmakers took another apparent jab at Ligado Networks on Wednesday as the House Armed Services Committee passed a ban on the Pentagon awarding contracts to firms that interfere with Global Positioning System signals. The panel adopted an amendment from House Strategic Forces Subcommittee Chairman Michael Turner to bar […]
The panel adopted an amendment from House Strategic Forces subcommittee Chairman Rep. Michael Turner to bar the Defense Department from entering, renewing or extending contracts an entity that engages in commercial terrestrial operations using certain frequency ranges―unless the defense secretary has certifies to the Congress the operations do not cause […]