Defense

Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) on Monday asked Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and ranking member John McCain (R-Ariz.) to consider a prohibition on using any funds from the 2013 defense authorization bill from being used for Air Force restructuring decisions until Congress and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) review the decisions.

Begich's April 2 letter reflects his latest attempt to stop a plan to move his state's F-16 Squadron Eielson Air Force base to the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson — also in Alaska.

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Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) and four other House Democrats on Monday put forward legislation that would let military veterans use part of their retirement pay to set up a fund for their special needs children.

"As a father of a special needs child, I know how important it is for parents to be able to provide them the best possible care," Moran said. "When healthcare costs for disabled kids can top $100,000 a year, the military needs to give parents the opportunity to plan for their special needs children’s future."

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A bipartisan group of members from the House and Senate proposed legislation on Monday that seeks to crack down on human trafficking by contractors that the U.S. military hires for work in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The End Trafficking in Government Contracting Act is a reaction to reports from the Commission on Wartime Contracting and the inspectors general of the Defense and State departments that overseas contractors are known to engage in practices that are illegal under U.S. employee rights standards. These include seizing workers' passports to trap them at a work site, lying about compensation, engaging in sexual abuse and generally keeping workers in a state of indentured servitude.

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Freshman Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) on Thursday afternoon offered detailed and aggressive prescription for how the United States can ensure its security in the new century, and warned that the nation faces “dark days ahead” if it does not prepare for several emerging security threats.

“For the sake of our nation, and of all nations who seek freedom for their citizens, we must be prepared to fight on the 21st Century Battlefield, and we can settle for no less than victory upon it,” he said on the House floor (prepared text here).

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Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.), who is locked in a member-versus-member primary battle with Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), introduced legislation Tuesday that would allow the Obama administration to give more missile defense systems to Israel.

Berman’s bill would allow the United States to provide more Iron Dome missile defense systems to Israel if the Israeli government requested it. Israel currently has three Iron Dome systems deployed, and Berman said more are needed to secure the country’s borders.

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Rep. Dan Burton (Ind.), the third-ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, warned on Thursday afternoon that Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.), President Obama and others should not be thinking about taking military action against Syria without first putting the question before Congress.

Burton was reacting to comments this week from McCain, who called on airstrikes against Syria to defend rebels against violence from Syrian Presidnet Bashar al-Assad.

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"Respectfully, I disagree with the senator from Arizona," Burton said on the House floor. "Our main goal in the Middle East is to protect our interests and the interests of our major ally, Israel.

"If we are to be dragged into a civil war in Syria for humanitarian reasons, I would respectfully remind Sen. McCain and the president that they do not have the power to unilaterally start a war."

Burton argued that the United States is "not the world's policeman," and said it is not the responsibility of the United States to control violence in other countries. "If it were, then bombs should be falling on a number of countries, including Yemen, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Sudan, Rwanda, North Korea, Burma, and I could go on and on," he said.

He also added that U.S. involvement in Libya has created pockets of al Qaeda operatives, and said the United States would need to assess the risks of repeating this mistake in Syria.

"Do we really want to undertake a significant military commitment … to create so-called safe havens in Syria to deliver weapons and supplies to al Qaeda fighters from Iraq?" he asked.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Tuesday also downplayed McCain's call for military action, saying that it would be "premature" to commit the United States to such action at this point.

Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) said Wednesday morning that he would press House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to reinstate more regular recognition in the House of members of the U.S. Armed Forces who fought and died in Iraq and Afghanistan, and will push for Boehner to preside over these moments of silence.

“I intend to hand deliver a letter to the Speaker of the House as I did a year ago, and I want the Speaker himself to stand at the Speaker’s stand and read the words, thanking our men and women in uniform for their service to our nation,” Jones said on the floor.

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House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) proposed pro-Israel legislation on Monday that would require the Obama administration to submit reports to Congress on how to speed the sale of F-35 fighter aircraft to Israel.

The legislation, introduced the day of a state visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, also asks the administration to show how the United States can boost Israel's overall security and help Israel maintain its military edge over its neighbors in the Middle East.

The United States-Israel Enhanced Security Cooperation Act, H.R. 4133, was introduced on the same day that both members spoke to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and told the powerful group that the United States remains committed to Israel's security.

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In a speech on the Senate floor, McCain said that the crisis in Syria has “reached a decisive moment.”

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Six members of the House — three from each party — warned House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) earlier this month that the war in Afghanistan is not going as well as the Obama administration has said, and urged the leaders to instead read the government's National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Afghanistan from last December.

The members' Feb. 10 letter also noted the assessment of Afghanistan given by Lt. Col. Daniel Davis, who said, among other things, that Afghan troops are not well-trained and will likely be over-run once the United States leaves. 

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