Defense

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) called for the extension of a tax credit for hiring veterans during a visit to her home state Wednesday.

Shortly before the August recess, the Senate Finance Committee passed the Family and Business Tax Cut Certainty Act on a 19-5 vote. Cantwell, who serves on that committee, voted for the bill and said she hopes it passes when the Senate returns in September.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said she was “deeply disturbed” over reports this week that the Department of Veterans Affairs possibly misused $5 million to hold lavish conferences last year.

“I am deeply disturbed by these allegations of waste and misuse of funds within the Department of Veterans Affairs,” Murray said in a statement Tuesday. “If these reports are true, the employees responsible must be held accountable and the VA needs to figure out what went wrong and make sure it never happens again."

The unpopular spending cuts were set in motion by the Budget Control Act as incentive for lawmakers to reduce the deficit.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) proposed legislation on Thursday that would prohibit any deployment of U.S. armed forces without congressional approval, which he said is needed because the United States continues to deploy troops without consulting Congress first.

"Congress must reestablish itself as a co-equal branch of government and ensure that the U.S. is not committed to another NATO mission absent prior congressional statutory authorization," Kucinich said. "The Constitution is clear: Article 1, Section 8 provides only Congress with the ability to declare war or authorize the use of military force. Congress cannot stand by idly as the Constitution is circumvented."

Rep. John Tierney (D-Mass.) on Tuesday proposed legislation aimed at increasing oversight and accountability of wartime contracting in a bid to end what he and many others have said is waste and abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan over the last decade.

"We have lost more than 1,900 honorable men and women and spent over $470 billion [in Afghanistan]," Tierney said. "Unfortunately, the national security subcommittee has repeatedly found evidence of waste and abuse of taxpayer dollars in wartime contracting, including in the subcommittee's ongoing investigation of the food distribution contract in Afghanistan."

Tierney is the ranking member of the Oversight subcommittee on foreign operations.

The legislation requires the White House budget office to show how it would carry out sequestration.

Congress passed a change to the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act on Thursday allowing an exception from the Internet posting requirement for certain executive branch officials for a short period of time, in order to protect national security and the personal safety of officials and their families.

“It is for the safety and security of our brave men and women that we need to ensure they are protected, which is exactly what this bill does,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Thursday.

He said Republicans oppose the legislation because the Chamber of Commerce doesn't like it.

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla) demanded that the Army hold a competition now to replace the M-4 riffles used by soldiers rather than waiting until 2014.

Coburn said lives are being lost because the government has refused to provide more adequate weapons to those fighting overseas.

The Arizona senator said he was "puzzled" senior Obama officials had not been interviewed by investigators.