Author: Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON • The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday for a version of the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, that authorizes $770 billion in defense spending — $25 billion more than requested by President Joe Biden — sending the measure to the White House for the president’s signature. The vote was 88-11, with strong…

WASHINGTON • The U.S. Senate rejected a resolution on Tuesday that would have prohibited the proposed sale of advanced medium range air-to-air missiles, missile launchers and other weapons and support to Saudi Arabia. The vote was 67 to 30 against the resolution, which was introduced by Republicans Rand Paul and Mike Lee, as well as…

WASHINGTON • Mark Meadows, who served as former President Donald Trump’s White House chief of staff, has decided not to cooperate with the congressional committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot, and the panel said on Tuesday it is prepared to pursue contempt charges against him. Rep. Bennie Thompson, chairman of the House…

WASHINGTON • U.S. Republican lawmakers introduced legislation on Thursday seeking to provide $2 billion per year and other assistance to bolster’s Taiwan’s defenses as it faces rising pressure from China. The legislation, reviewed by Reuters, would authorize $2 billion a year in Foreign Military Financing — U.S. grants and loans that enable countries to purchase…

WASHINGTON • The U.S. Senate confirmed two former senators and the widows of two senators to high-level diplomatic posts on Tuesday, including former Republican Senator Jeff Flake as ambassador to Turkey and former Democratic Senator Tom Udall as ambassador to New Zealand. Both were confirmed by voice vote, as was Cindy Hensley McCain, an Arizona…

WASHINGTON • A U.S. congressional committee probing the deadly Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol said on Thursday it would vote next week to hold Steve Bannon, a longtime adviser to former President Donald Trump, in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena. The House of Representatives Select Committee said it scheduled…

WASHINGTON • Republican U.S. lawmakers tried on Wednesday to pick apart President Joe Biden’s defense of his withdrawal from Afghanistan as they attacked his judgment and honesty during a second day of contentious congressional hearings with Pentagon leaders. Democrat Biden has faced the biggest crisis of his presidency over the war in Afghanistan, which he…

WASHINGTON • Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told Congress on Tuesday that the Afghan army’s sudden collapse caught the Pentagon off-guard as he acknowledged miscalculations in America’s longest war including corruption and damaged morale in Afghan ranks. “The fact that the Afghan army we and our partners trained simply melted away — in many cases without…

WASHINGTON • A U.S. Democrat said on Thursday that multiple congressional committees will investigate a drone strike that killed 10 Afghan civilians last month, to determine what went wrong and answer questions about future counterterrorism strategy. “This is an issue that several committees are going to look at, and we’ve already started to do that,”…