Congress Grants Waiver For Retired Gen. Lloyd Austin To Lead Pentagon

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Both chambers of Congress on Thursday voted to grant retired Gen. Lloyd Austin a waiver to lead the Pentagon, clearing the path to confirmation for President Biden’s nominee for defense secretary.

Why it matters: Austin’s nomination received pushback from some lawmakers, including Democrats, who cited a law that requires officers be out of the military for at least seven years before taking the job — a statute intended to reinforce the tradition of civilian control of the Pentagon.

Context: Austin’s confirmation would make Biden’s administration the second in a row to abandon the tradition, after Gen. James Mattis received the same waiver in 2017 to serve as former President Trump’s first defense secretary.

  • At his confirmation hearing Wednesday, Austin said he would “uphold the principle of civilian control of the military,” stressing that he knows being a Cabinet secretary “requires a different perspective and unique duties from a career in uniform.”

The state of play: The House vote approving the waiver came to 326-78, and the Senate vote tally was at 69-27.

Read more at Axios.

{Matzav.com}


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