UPDATED from hearing and House vote WASHINGTON: The Navy is doing a good job addressing the problems revealed by last summer’s fatal collisions at sea, for example by filing criminal charges this week against officers involved, the Republican chairman and ranking Democrat of the House seapower subcommittee say. Now Congress needs to do its part and pass… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: Navy Secretary Richard Spencer has asked legislators to repeal an obscure statute that he says hinders Navy readiness in the Pacific, where accidents this summer killed 17 sailors. Armed Services committee leaders seem receptive, but it’s the appropriators who’ll have to change the provision in question, which was written by their late, great chairman… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: Daniel Inouye is dead. Who will succeed him? Well, it might be a “she.” It is callous, even ghoulish, that we media have started speculating on who will succeed one of the nation’s most respected Senators within four hours of his death, but that’s Washington for you. As the condolences and eulogies pour in… Keep reading →

CAPITOL HILL: Hours after a House Armed Services Committee on sequestration elicited bitter laugh after bitter laugh from a roomful of observers while the two sides threw figurative spitballs at each other, the Senate almost, but not quite, passed a Continuing Resolution to keep the U.S. government funded for another six months. Sen. Daniel Inouye,… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: The military Reserves and National Guard have spent a decade operating with unprecedented intensity alongside the regular active-duty force in Afghanistan and Iraq. Now, as budget cuts loom, their leaders are fighting hard to keep the funding needed to keep their edge in both training and equipment. Going back to the sleepy days of… Keep reading →

Good insight on Senate fm Inouye’s earmark remarks: Earmarks leave Senators “open to unseemly bargaining with Executive branch.” Unseemly! colinclarkaol

Think Hill doesn’t know what vermin Americans think they r? Sen. Inouye sez “trust in Congress is at all time low” in extending earmark ban colinclarkaol

Election news & NOTE to #defense contractors: “Senate Appropriations Committee Announces Extension of Earmark Moratorium.” Smart politics colinclarkaol

UPDATED Washington: DoD is ready to give the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter’s second engine program another look, but only if industry is ready to foot the bill. DoD acquisition chief Ash Carter said today he is willing to sit down with the General Electric and Rolls-Royce team building the F136 alternate engine. Testifying at his… Keep reading →

Capitol Hill: The Senate’s top defense appropriators have killed the Army and Marines Joint Light Tactical Vehicle program and frozen F-35 production levels until the next budget year. Those were among the most visible of $26 billion in additional cuts to the fiscal 2012 budget the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee made to comply with the… Keep reading →