Tag Archives: Senate

Congress has approved a waiver to facilitate the confirmation of Lloyd Austin, a retired U.S. Army general, as defense secretary under the administration of President Joe Biden, Defense News reported Thursday.

The Senate voted 84-10 Wednesday to confirm Avril Haines, former deputy director at the CIA, as the new director of national intelligence, The Wall Street Journal reported. She has become the first female DNI and will oversee 18 intelligence agencies, including the CIA and the National Security Agency.

The Senate moved to pass the $740.5B National Defense Authorization Act into law via an 81-13 vote Friday that overruled President Donald Trump’s veto of the NDAA, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The House voted 322-87 Monday to override President Donald Trump’s veto of the $740.5B National Defense Authorization Act, Politico reported. The Senate is set to reconvene Tuesday to consider the annual defense policy bill, which Trump rejected a week ago over provisions that would remove from military installations the names of Confederate leaders, set restrictions on the withdrawal of U.S. warfighters from Europe and Afghanistan and provide liability protection for social media companies, also known as Section 230.

A spending package that includes $900B in COVID-19 relief funds is now headed to the White House for President Donald Trump’s signature after the Senate passed the bill in a 92-6 vote late Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. The Senate’s decision came hours after the House voted 359-53 to approve the relief measure and a $1.4T spending bill that would fund government operations through the end of September.

The Senate on Friday passed in a 84-13 vote a bill that would authorize $740.5B in defense funds for fiscal year 2021, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. The upper chamber’s vote sends the FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act to President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature.

The Senate on Tuesday proposed a $1.4T spending package that includes $696B in defense appropriations for fiscal year 2021, Defense News reports. Senators must reconcile the upper chamber's 12-bill package with the House, which passed in July a $694.6B defense spending bill for FY 2021 as part of a $1.3T package, and reach a deal before a continuing resolution expires on Dec. 11 to avoid a government shutdown.

The Department of Defense established on Thursday the office of the assistant secretary of defense for space policy in accordance with the fiscal year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. The creation of the new position “is a change of the civilian oversight of the space enterprise that aligns with the establishment of the U.S. Space Force and U.S. Space Command,” said David Norquist, deputy defense secretary and a 2020 Wash100 Award winner.

President Donald Trump on early Thursday signed a continuing resolution to fund the operations at federal agencies through Dec. 11 at current spending levels. The short-term measure was designed to head off a government shutdown at the start of fiscal 2021 and cleared by the White House almost one hour after the midnight deadline passed as Trump came back from a Minnesota campaign event.

President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he will nominate Chad Wolf, acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, to serve as DHS secretary on a full-time basis, NPR reported.