Rapid Fire Feb. 12, 2013: SASC SECDEF Vote
Feb 12, 2013 08:50 UTC by Defense Industry Daily staff- The US Senate Armed Services Committee will likely vote this afternoon on Chuck Hagel’s nomination as Secretary of Defense. Republican senators denied as an unfounded rumor that they were considering walking out of the committee.
- Senate Democrats will introduce a bill later this week that would postpone sequestration by another 10 months, based on a mix on spending cuts and tax increases. will it be anything the Republicans are likely to agree to? Reuters.
- Congressman Ander Crenshaw (R-FL, HACD member) and 8 other representatives from coastal states wrote Navy Secretary Ray Mabus to ask him to delay pending cancellation of third and fourth quarter ship maintenance availabilities.
- According to anonymous sources cited by the Washington Post, the Obama administration is considering leaving 8,000 troops in Afghanistan in 2014-2015, then phase them out to as little as a thousand by 2017. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dempsey says it all depends on what the post-war mission is going to be. A key question is of course the ability of Afghanistan to run its own security forces: a new GAO report points out shortfalls in funding, which relies overwhelmingly on international support.
