Tag: Congress

Sanctuary cities such as Philadelphia refuse to cooperate with the federal government in locating suspected terrorists who are in their custody and are in the country illegally,

Far from the corridors of Congress, where virtually any kind of gun legislation is dead on arrival and the gridlock has turned into political theater, bare-knuckle battles over firearms are raging in state capitals. From Sacramento to Trenton and Tallahassee to Des Moines, lawmakers, interest groups and activists skirmish almost daily over pending legislation to […]

“It’s outrageous that it was removed” from the annual VA budget bill, Rep. Earl Blumenauer and Sen. Jeff Merkley, said in a joint statement Friday. “To add insult to injury, the legislation was released in the middle of the night, not even giving members of the House an opportunity to review the language before voting on it.”

Congress understands the desperate need to increase aviation readiness levels and they are targeting acquisition reform as a key function to help in the effort. Bob Simmons and Chris Brose, staff directors of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees (majority) respectively, spoke yesterday about how to improve warfighter readiness through the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act […]

An estimated 307,000 vets died waiting for care. Specifically, the IG found roughly 800,000 records of vets pending in the agency’s system for managing health care enrollment. Of those, more than 307,000 belonged to veterans who had died months or years prior, based on a comparison with Social Security records.

Senate lawmakers want to radically overhaul how military housing stipends are awarded and end the practice of troops pocketing extra cash from the payouts. The plan is tucked into the Senate’s pending draft of the annual defense authorization measure, and hasn’t received the same attention as major military health care and acquisition reforms also included […]

An appeals court ruled on Friday that more than 6,000 pages of the so-called Senate torture report cannot be made public because they consist of congressional records that are not subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, which only covers federal agencies. The unanimous ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the […]

The Pentagon has asked Congress to limit official travel to Afghanistan during a new fighting season so helicopters and other support would be available for military use rather than to transport lawmakers, a senior military official said Friday. Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Defense Secretary Ashton Carter asked that travel be […]

The Obama administration is locked and loaded for a fresh push on gun control initiatives – reportedly moving to advocate for so-called “smart gun” technology as early as Friday, despite concerns from the gun lobby. Politico reports President Obama is set to release findings on the technology from a multi-agency review, and White House senior […]

Women will have to register with the Selective Service and would be eligible to be drafted in the military, under a provision narrowly approved by a House panel on Wednesday. The proposal passed the House Armed Services Committee without support from its sponsor, Iraq War veteran Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., who introduced the measure as […]

House Armed Services Committee chairman Mac Thornberry recently complained about readiness weaknesses across the U.S. military. But he and his colleagues can release additional defense funds to alleviate some of these shortcomings—if they look within. Rep. Thornberry’s litany of grumbles includes the Marine Corps’ inability to meet training requirements, less than one-third of Army units […]

The military draft may be headed for the scrap heap.  The House Armed Services Committee will include instructions to examine the Selective Service program’s viability and possible “alternatives” as part of its review of the annual defense authorization bill next week, staffers confirmed on Friday. The move comes following months of hand-wringing over whether women will […]