Tag Archives: mitch mcconnell

The House on Tuesday voted 231-192 to pass a continuing resolution to fund government operations through Dec. 20 in order to prevent a government shutdown, Defense News reported Wednesday.

Mark Esper, secretary of the U.S. Army and 2019 Wash100 Award recipient, was confirmed as the next U.S. defense secretary following a 90 to 8 Senate vote, according to the Wall Street Journal’s report on Tuesday. 

The Office of Management and Budget has issued a memo to notify federal agencies about the reopening of the government after President Donald Trump signed a continuing resolution that would fund the government through Feb. 15. “All employees who were on furlough due to the absence of appropriations may now return to work,” according to the Friday memo signed by OMB Acting Director Russell Vought.
 

Robert Karem, assistant secretary for international security affairs at the Defense Department, is leaving his Senate-confirmed post to take on a new role as an adviser to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., DefenseNews reported Thursday.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has welcomed the appointment of Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Inhofe “rose to the occasion and helped lead the committee in passing crucial legislation that honored the example of his predecessor and the volunteers who defend our nation,” McConnell said in a statement published Wednesday.

Senators on Monday resumed debates on amendments to a fiscal 2019 minibus spending bill that will appropriate funds for multiple federal agencies including the Defense Department. The chamber approved two amendments to the defense bill, one of which allocates funding for the identification of U.S. servicemen among the remains repatriated from North Korea in July, the Washington Examiner reported.

House lawmakers have called on the Senate to speed up the confirmation of Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-Oklahoma) for the NASA administrator role in light of Robert Lightfoot’s decision to retire as the agency’s acting chief by the end of April. Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas), chairman of the House space subcommittee, …

The Senate has confirmed Rickey Dale James, a manager at family farming business A.C. Riley Cotton Company, as assistant secretary of the U.S. Army for civil works and head of the Army Corps of Engineers, the Northern Kentucky Tribune reported Monday. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) said James will help address water infrastructure …

The federal government is set to resume operations Tuesday after Congress cleared a continuing resolution that would fund agencies through Feb. 8 and put an end to a government shutdown that took effect Saturday, The Hill reported Monday. President Donald Trump signed Monday night the fourth stopgap measure for fiscal …

A federal government shutdown went into effect Saturday after the Senate voted 50-49 to reject another continuing resolution that would fund agencies through Feb. 16, Politico reported Saturday. The Senate’s decision resulted in the first official shutdown since 2013 and came a day after the House voted to approve the four-week …