The Texas Republican, who supported Pentagon reform, bigger budgets, and Trump’s border wall, is joining several other conservatives is walking away from Capitol Hill.

Here we go again. Senate Democrats, opposed to pulling from military construction funds for the wall, set off a new budget battle.

The Trump Administration argues the HASC’s cuts to the defense policy bill would hamper missile detection and defense priorities.

Hell hath no fury like a lawmaker betrayed. This week, the House will take up the crucial National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Congress’ primary instrument to oversee the U.S. military. Though the NDAA has passed for 58 straight years, partisan political choices threaten to end that streak.     The Democratic House passed out of… Keep reading →

As the three most powerful civilians in the Army Department, Esper, McCarthy, and Jette have formed by all accounts a tight-knit and effective team. That’s particularly remarkable because they’ve had abundant opportunities for conflict as they turned the Army bureaucracy upside down.

Despite Democratic chairman Adam Smith’s best efforts, the defense budget is likely to creep back up to the full $750 billion the administration asked for.

Democrats and Republicans sparred all night over nukes in the 2020 defense policy bill, but the Democrats had the votes. For now.

The House Armed Services Committee starts a marathon wrangle on the Pentagon budget, complete with dueling Dickens & Shakespeare quotes, with a detour to debate paint schemes for Air Force One and renaming a key intelligence position.

Democratic chairman Adam Smith wants to focus on the “cyber fight with Russia and China… that’s really going to happen.”

The top HASC Republican outlines some of the amendments he plans to add to the HASC 2020 defense policy bill, previewing coming debates with the Senate.