The Obama administration and lawmakers on Capitol Hill must be willing to work hand-in-hand to implement the necessary security reforms at U.S. diplomatic outposts worldwide, in order to avoid a repeat of the deadly attack on the American consulate in Benghazi earlier this year. 

Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) was one of nine new Democrats named to the House Armed Services Committee Thursday.

Duckworth, who lost both of her legs in a helicopter crash in Iraq, will join the committee along with five freshmen and two former members of Congress who were re-elected in 2012.

In addition to Duckworth, Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) — whose twin brother San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro gave the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention — will be on the committee. Reps. Carol Shea Porter (D-N.H.) and Dan Maffei (D-N.Y), who were defeated in 2010 but won back their House seats in November, were also selected for the panel.

Congressional lawmakers are banding together to secure the release of a jailed Marine in Mexico by Christmas, with one House Republican calling for a travel ban against the country until Mexican authorities hand over the Iraq and Afghan war veteran to U.S. custody. 

Actor and activist Ben Affleck briefly butted heads with Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D.Calif.) on Wednesday, during a House Armed Services Committee hearing on the future of U.S. military assistance operations in eastern Congo. 

The House on Thursday afternoon approved a rule for debating and voting on the National Defense Authorization Act, a bill setting policy for the Defense Department and authorizing $633 billion in defense spending for 2013.

The 243-177 vote in favor of the bill, H.R. 4310, follows completion of a House-Senate conference on the bill in which the two chambers settled various policy differences.

The White House says its position has not changed on the threat to veto the defense authorization bill over restrictions on transferring Guantanamo detainees after the final bill was completed in conference committee Tuesday.

White House press secretary Jay Carney would not elaborate when asked Thursday whether the president might veto the bill with restrictions Congress placed on transferring Guantanamo detainees. The restrictions have been in previous versions of the defense bill, and they were included in the conference report that House and Senate lawmakers agreed to despite the White House’s objections.

“What we put out is still our position, and I don't have any updates on that for you,” Carney said at Thursday’s White House press briefing.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is upset at Senate Armed Services ranking member John McCain (R-Ariz.) after a provision preventing military detention of U.S. citizens was stripped from the final version of the defense authorization bill.

Paul issued a statement Wednesday saying that the defense bill is now “unconstitutional,” singling out McCain as the GOP Senate conference committee leader.

The Senate passed an amendment from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) that prevented the indefinite detention of U.S. citizens, which was supported by libertarian-leaning senators like Paul and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah).

Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) on Thursday said anyone in the CIA or Pentagon who pressured operatives to talk to Hollywood filmmakers for the new film "Zero Dark Thirty" — about the mission to capture Osama bin Laden — should lose their jobs. 

House Republicans decided late Wednesday that the House will not vote on a Democratic tax plan on Thursday, and instead will only vote on the House GOP backup tax plan known as "Plan B."

The GOP has also decided to hold a vote on a bill that would replace the pending $109 billion sequester. Details about this new bill were unknown as of late Wednesday, but adding a sequester-replacement bill to the GOP leadership's plan appears to be an effort to ensure enough Republicans can vote for the package.