News
House panel votes to reinstate non-Confederate base names and adopt ‘Department of War’
A House panel voted Thursday to return the names of nine southern U.S. military bases to those recommended in 2023 by a congressional commission assigned to study the Defense Department’s Confederate honorifics. After a spirited 30-minute debate late Thursday evening, members of the House Armed Services Committee approved an amendment offered by Rep. Marilyn Strickland, D-Wash., to change the name...[Read More]
House passes $893 billion defense policy bill with war powers repeal
House lawmakers on Wednesday approved plans for a $893 billion defense authorization bill despite strong objections from Democratic lawmakers about social issue fights and a lack of restrictions on presidential use of the National Guard. The final 231-196 vote by the chamber included only 17 Democrats backing the must-pass budget policy measure, which includes a host of pay and benefits reauthoriz...[Read More]
House passes bill to end historic government shutdown
The House passed a bill Wednesday to end the nation’s longest government shutdown, sending the measure to President Donald Trump for his signature after a historic 43-day funding lapse that saw federal workers go without multiple paychecks, travelers stranded at airports and people lining up at food banks to get a meal for their families. House lawmakers made their long-awaited return to the natio...[Read More]
House passes bill to end historic government shutdown
The House passed a bill Wednesday to end the nation’s longest government shutdown, sending the measure to President Donald Trump for his signature after a historic 43-day funding lapse that saw federal workers go without multiple paychecks, travelers stranded at airports and people lining up at food banks to get a meal for their families. House lawmakers made their long-awaited return to the natio...[Read More]
House passes defense policy bill that pushes boat strike video release
The House on Wednesday passed a major defense policy bill that would authorize $900.6 billion in discretionary spending for the Pentagon in fiscal 2026. The National Defense Authorization Act will now head to the Senate for final passage, after its 312-112 approval in the House. The NDAA also aims to pressure Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to release more information on controversial strikes on al...[Read More]
House passes defense policy bill that pushes boat strike video release
The House on Wednesday passed a major defense policy bill that would authorize $900.6 billion in discretionary spending for the Pentagon in fiscal 2026. The National Defense Authorization Act will now head to the Senate for final passage, after its 312-112 approval in the House. The NDAA also aims to pressure Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to release more information on controversial strikes on al...[Read More]
House passes defense policy bill that pushes boat strike video release
The House on Wednesday passed a major defense policy bill that would authorize $900.6 billion in discretionary spending for the Pentagon in fiscal 2026. The National Defense Authorization Act will now head to the Senate for final passage, after its 312-112 approval in the House. The NDAA also aims to pressure Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to release more information on controversial strikes on al...[Read More]
House passes funding bill to avert government shutdown
The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved legislation to keep federal agencies operating beyond Oct. 1 when existing funds are due to expire with the start of the new fiscal year. By a vote of 370-48, the House passed the extension of current spending through Dec. 11 and sent it to President Donald Trump for signing into law. The Senate passed the measure on Aug. 8. The ...[Read More]
House Republicans seek new strategy for passing VA policy bills
The chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee wants to develop a “must-pass” authorization bill process for the Department of Veterans Affairs similar to the legislative procedure used to approve the National Defense Authorization Act. Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., kicked off a series of hearings Wednesday on legislation that would reauthorize several significant VA programs and said he wants to ...[Read More]
House, Senate leaders look to speed up NDAA work this week
Both chambers of Congress will work to advance the annual defense authorization bill this week, trying to navigate through hundreds of member amendment proposals and adopt final drafts to be used in upcoming conference negotiations. Senate leaders late last week set up votes starting Tuesday on the must-pass military legislation, which includes spending plans for hundreds of Defense Department pro...[Read More]
How a $10 billion veterans bill became a $78 billion debate
For years, the Major Richard Star Act appeared to have something Congress rarely sees: overwhelming bipartisan support from nearly 80 senators, more than 330 members of the House, major veterans service organizations and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, with a price tag that, while significant, was widely viewed as manageable. The legislation seeks to end a decades-old offset that forces many comba...[Read More]
How a band of Marines staved off the British and helped save the Declaration of Independence
In the afternoon of Aug. 24, 1814, First Lady Dolley Madison wrote in her journal: “We have had a battle…near Bladensburg, and I am still here within sound of the cannon!” Within a few hours, that cannonade would come steadily closer until the British 3rd Brigade marched into Washington, D.C., virtually uncontested and proceeded to burn the city’s public buildings, including the Capitol, the chamb...[Read More]