Senate votes to ban use of torture
The Senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly voted to ban the U.S. from ever again subjecting prisoners to waterboarding, “rectal feeding” and other brutal interrogation practices widely condemned as...
View ArticleTime for a new national defense strategy
The House and Senate Appropriations Committees are advancing defense spending bills after the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) by each chamber. Neither appropriations nor NDAA...
View ArticleDefense bill could lift restrictions on guns on military bases
Congress could vote to lift a ban on military personnel carrying guns at bases in the aftermath of last week's attack in Chattanooga, Tenn.House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told reporters...
View ArticleDefense bill at an impasse, but a solution is within reach
The chairmen of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees have focused this year's 2016 defense policy bill on reform. The National Defense Authorization Act has passed both the House and Senate...
View ArticleHouse, Senate reach deal on DOD spending
The Senate and House Armed Services committees have reconciled their versions of the National Defense Authorization Act, clearing the way for the full House to consider Pentagon spending later this...
View ArticleTop Dems want investigation into war fund
The ranking members on the House and Senate Budget committees, one of whom is Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, are asking the Government Accountability Office to...
View ArticlePentagon chief recommends veto of defense policy bill
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said on Wednesday he has already recommended that President Obama veto the 2016 defense policy bill a day after the House and Senate announced they hammered out areas of...
View ArticleNonprofits urge 'No' vote on defense policy bill over Guantanamo
A group of 14 human rights, civil liberties, national security and religious nonprofits is urging lawmakers to vote against the defense policy bill before them Thursday, because it would keep the...
View ArticleMcConnell: We could override veto of defense bill
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) projected confidence Tuesday that he has the votes to override a veto by President Obama of the defense authorization bill."The big question, I guess, is whether...
View ArticleObama to hold photo op to veto defense bill
President Obama will veto a major defense policy bill Thursday, just two days after the Republican-controlled Congress sent it to his desk. Obama plans to hold a photo op in the Oval Office when he...
View ArticleAhead of veto, Armed Services chairmen blast Obama
The chairmen of the House and Senate Armed Services committees slammed President Obama on Thursday, hours before Obama's photo-op to veto a defense bill.“Our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines are...
View ArticleObama vetoes defense bill
President Obama on Thursday took the rare step of vetoing a major defense policy bill, upping the stakes in a faceoff with Republicans over government spending. Obama used his veto pen on the National...
View ArticleGOP lawmakers lambaste Obama veto of defense bill
Using words such as “abhorrent,” “disgusting” and “dumbfounded,” 13 Republican lawmakers who have served in the military in Iraq and Afghanistan excoriated President Obama on Thursday for vetoing a...
View ArticleHouse Republican: Two paths to passing defense bill after budget deal
With the question of defense funding settled in the two-year budget agreement announced this week, lawmakers are pursuing two paths to pass this year’s defense policy bill, Rep. Mac Thornberry...
View ArticleHouse to vote on new defense bill, won't try to override Obama veto
The House will take up a new version of the defense policy bill rather than try to override President Obama's veto of the original bill, Republican leadership said Tuesday."We're going to take up our...
View ArticleRedone defense policy bill sails through House
The House on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a new version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) after President Obama vetoed an earlier version of the defense policy bill.“I hope that this...
View ArticleHouse subpanel pushes 'unconventional warfare' in defense bill
A House subcommittee is pushing cyber and unconventional warfare in its portion of the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act.The draft released Tuesday by the House Armed Services emerging threats...
View ArticleKey Dem criticizes reversal of troop cuts
A key Democrat is raising concerns about plans to reverse Army troop cuts and mandate a higher raise than requested by the Pentagon.Rep. Susan Davis (D-Calif.) said those steps could negatively affect...
View ArticleAnnual defense bill touches on ISIS war, Guantánamo
The House Armed Services Committee’s annual defense policy bill aims to make a slew of reforms to the Pentagon in areas such as command structure and healthcare.It also seeks assurances from the...
View ArticleBlimp program, Russian engines targeted in defense policy bill
The House Armed Services Committee on Monday released the full version of its annual defense policy bill, filling in the final details before the committee meets later this week to mark up the bill.In...
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