The brazen raid on the American embassy in Libya that resulted in the deaths of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans bore the hallmarks of an al Qaeda revenge attack, according to a top Senate Democrat.

The United States is sending a group of elite Marines to Libya in the wake of the attack that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three members of his staff.

About 50 Marines will provide additional security at U.S. facilities in Libya after Wednesday night’s attack in Benghazi, according to The Associated Press.

The unit being sent to Libya is part of a group called the Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team (FAST), which operates around the world on short notice reacting to terrorism and to reinforce security at U.S. embassies.

President Obama said Thursday that security would be increased at U.S. diplomatic posts across the globe.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) asked House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to reconsider his decision to “give up” on finding an overarching deficit-reduction deal. 

“I am disappointed to hear Speaker Boehner say he is giving up,” Reid said Wednesday on the Senate floor. “I don’t feel that way, I haven’t given up on finding a reasonable solution to solve our fiscal debt.”

Republican Sens. Roger Wicker (Miss.) and James Inhofe (Okla.) proposed legislation on Tuesday that would let military chaplains avoid performing same-sex marriages for "reasons of conscience," and would also prohibit same-sex marriages at military facilities.

The Military Religious Freedom Act, S. 3526, is meant to provide guidelines on how the military enforces the Defense of Marriage Act, which is still U.S. law even though several states are challenging it. The Obama administration has said it would defend the law in court.

Romney said the images of 9/11 would forever be “seared in the memory of every American."  

The Topline: In what will come as a surprise to only a few at this point, the Senate will not be taking up the Defense authorization bill before the lame-duck session, Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) confirmed Tuesday.

Levin had held out hope before the August recess that the Senate might be able to squeeze it in, but Levin did not try to hedge when asked about it Wednesday.

“I don’t think so. I think it’s going to have to be a lame-duck deal,” Levin said.

So now Levin — as well as ranking member John McCain (R-Ariz.) and House Armed Services Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) — will hope that the bill will get its day on the floor during the lame-duck session.

The bill has bipartisan support, something that’s rare these days, but it will take up several days of floor time with dozens, if not hundreds, of amendments, some of which will undoubtedly be contentious.

The biggest issue surrounding the authorization bill is sequestration. That will be Priority No. 1 for defense lawmakers after the election, and it’s just one of numerous major issues Congress will try to tackle before the end of the year.

Read more...

Acknowledging the political realities and Senate time crunch, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) confirmed Tuesday that the Defense authorization bill was not expected to get to the Senate floor until the lame-duck session at the earliest.

“I don’t think so. I think it’s going to have to be a lame-duck deal,” Levin said when asked whether the bill could get on the floor before the election.

The Senate Armed Services Committee passed the Defense authorization bill unanimously in May. Both Levin and ranking member John McCain (R-Ariz.) want to get the bill through and into conference committee, making it a rare bill in the Capitol with broad, bipartisan support.

The National Research Council recommended establishing new detection systems and missile interceptors, focused specifically on the U.S. eastern seaboard.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said he’s confident that sequestration will not actually happen, despite the gridlock that has paralyzed Congress for more than a year from acting to reverse the cuts.

“One way or another, since 90 percent of us don’t want it, it will not happen,” Levin told reporters Tuesday. “My hope is it will not happen early enough to avoid any kind of instability or upset or uncertainty.”

Levin’s comments contrasted those of House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), who said Tuesday he was “not confident at all” that Congress could cut a deal on the “fiscal cliff,” which includes the sequestration spending cuts and the Bush tax rates.