Richard Lardner Posts

Lawmakers ask why the US is purchasing Mi-17 helicopters from Rosoboronexport - the same Russian arm exporter selling weapons to the Syrian government. The Mi-17s are for Afghan security forces, but their purchase subsidizes the oppressive Assad regime in Syria, all paid for by US taxpayers.

The top U.S. special operations commander ordered military files about the Navy SEAL raid on Osama bin Laden's hideout to be purged from Defense Department computers and sent to the CIA, where they could be more easily shielded from ever being made public. The secret move set off no alarms within the Obama administration even though it appears to have sidestepped federal rules.

"I think the leadership of the military is confused," said Rep. Michael Turner, R-Ohio, who along with Rep. Niki Tsongas, D-Mass., wrote several of the provisions before the subcommittee. "They believe as long as they have programs where they say sexual assault is wrong that they've done enough. No. They have to support the victim, and they have to support vigorous prosecution."

The U.S. Forest Service is in the business of preventing fires, not starting them. Yet the agency set off alarms in Congress and state capitols across the West by citing the automatic spending cuts as the basis for demanding that dozens of states return $17.9 million in federal subsidies.

Lawmakers from both parties have devoted nearly half a billion dollars in taxpayer money over the past two years to build improved versions of the 70-ton Abrams. But senior Army officials have said repeatedly, "No thanks."

Lawmakers from both parties have devoted nearly half a billion dollars in taxpayer money over the past two years to build improved versions of the 70-ton Abrams. But senior Army officials have said repeatedly, "No thanks."

Senate Democrats and the White House struggled to break an impasse Thursday over Chuck Hagel's nomination as secretary of defense, with Republicans blocking speedy confirmation of their former colleague and Vietnam combat veteran.

Reid said it was "shocking" and "tragic" that the GOP would attempt to block Hagel's nomination at a time when the U.S. military is engaged in so many places around the world. "Not a single nominee for secretary of defense ever in the history of our country has been filibustered," he said in a speech on the Senate floor.