Republican Congressman Faces Tea Party Wrath for Flying Air Force One
In just over two years in Congress, Republican Scott Rigell of Virginia has piqued conservatives by voting to raise the debt ceiling, disavowing an anti-tax pledge, and partnering with Democrats on gun control legislation. He was one of only two Republicans last year to oppose holding Attorney General Eric Holder in criminal contempt. But the proverbial straw broke the tea party’s back on Wednesday, when Rigell joined President Obama at a major shipbuilder near his southeaste
Pentagon Plans to Ask for Base Closures
The Pentagon is planning to ask Congress for two new rounds of military base closures in its upcoming budget, according to defense sources. The Defense Department made the same request last year, but it was immediately shot down by Democrats and Republicans at the outset of the election year. In a meeting this week of governors appointed to advise the government on defense issues, DoD officials said they planned to seek authorization for a round of the Base Realignment and Cl
BRAC Again
BRAC Again With the sequestration deadline just days away, Air Force officials are once again urging Congress to consider more base realignments and closures. Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said last week the Pentagon’s forthcoming Fiscal 2014 budget request, which is set to go to Congress in a few weeks, would include a request for more BRAC. “We continue to believe BRAC authority is a tool we urgently need to allow [the Defense Department] to divest excess infrastructur
New 45th Space Wing Commander ‘Thrilled’ to Be Back in Brevard
Col. Nina Armagno is returning to Partick Air Force Base as the commander of the 45th Space Wing after having served here in 2001.“I’m thrilled to be heading back to the Cape,” Armagno said. “While I’ll be saddened to leave the Hawks of the 30th Space Wing, it is a distinct honor to be chosen to command the 45th Space Wing. From one amazing spacelift wing to another… what the men and women of Vandenberg and Patrick Air Force Base do for our nation is indispensible to the war
Brevard Could Feel Bigger Sting from Budget Cuts than Other Communities
A key economic engine of Brevard County, the area’s defense, aerospace and engineering sectors, could get walloped by across the board cuts in federal government spending mandated by law if Congress can’t reach a budget deal by a Friday deadline. Start with Harris Corp. or Northrop Grumman Corp., two of Brevard’s largest employers, whose health depends heavily on government contracts. But the impact won’t stop there, spreading to dozens of smaller contractors and suppliers ac
Senate Votes to Confirm Hagel
The Senate on Tuesday voted to confirm former Sen. Chuck Hagel as Pentagon chief in a 58-41 vote, ending one of the most contentious confirmation fights for a Defense secretary in U.S. history. Only four Republicans backed Hagel, a former GOP senator from Nebraska whose controversial statements on Israel, Iran and other issues made him a lighting rod on the right and led to the first-ever filibuster of a nominee to lead the Pentagon. GOP Sens. Thad Cochran (Miss.), Richard Sh
President Obama at Newport News Shipbuilding
12:41 p.m. President Obama and Navy Secretary Ray Mabus met with Newport News Shipbuilding executives ahead of his planned remarks at the shipyard. Huntington Ingalls president Mike Petters and shipyard president Matt Mulherin gave the president a tour of the Supplemental Module Outfitting Facility, where crews have been working to construct the bows of two Virginia-class submarines, the Illinois and John Warner. Each bow section is structurally manufactured in production sho
In Newport News Shipyard, Looming Budget Cuts Create Anxiety and Anger
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — As President Obama returned from a Florida golfing trip and Congress was on a Presidents’ Day break last week, Tommy Bassett, a nuclear machinist, was applying for a backup job at Lowe’s.The carrier USS Abraham Lincoln was supposed to arrive at the massive shipyard here on Valentine’s Day for a multibillion-dollar overhaul that would take years and provide Bassett and some of the other 21,000 shipyard employees with steady work. But the budget deadlock in
White House Releases State-By-State Breakdown of Sequester’s Effects
The White House on Sunday detailed how deep spending cuts set to begin this week would affect programs in every state and the District, as President Obama launched a last-ditch effort to pressure congressional Republicans to compromise on a way to stop the across-the-board cuts.But while Republicans and Democrats were set to introduce dueling legislative proposals this week to avert the Friday start of the spending cuts, known as the sequester, neither side expected the measu
Obama’s Sequester Deal-Changer
Bob Woodward (woodwardb@washpost.com) is an associate editor of The Post. His latest book is “The Price of Politics.” Evelyn M. Duffy contributed to this column. Misunderstanding, misstatements and all the classic contortions of partisan message management surround the sequester, the term for the $85 billion in ugly and largely irrational federal spending cuts set by law to begin Friday. What is the non-budget wonk to make of this? Who is responsible? What really happened? Th
