WASHINGTON – The appointment of President-elect Joe Biden Lloyd Austin has posed a tough question for Congress: to confirm the first black defense secretary or to strengthen a 73-year-old law designed to prevent the Pentagon from running recently retired military officers. Austin headed the U.S. Federal Command before retiring in 2016 as a four-star general, 67. He needs a waiver from the 1947 law, which sought to increase the military’s control over civilians, requiring officers to serve a seven-year cooling period after the relief. Active duty. Law makers are divided over whether it can deliver. “I understand the importance of public control. I have some concerns about being asked to resign, ”said D-Hawaii Sen, who sits on the Armed Services Committee overseeing the appointment. Said Masi Hirono. “So I’ll take note.” Unlike the process of confirming candidates by the Senate, this type of exemption must be approved by both chambers. Since the enactment of this requirement after World War II, two Pentagon candidates have received discounts: Harry Truman elected George Marshall in 1950, and President Donald Trump elected James Mattis in 2017. During the Trump administration, there was concern that policy decisions had historically been made and that civilians had been left to the military brass. This prompts some to want another citizen to take charge when Biden becomes president, arguing that Jim Colby, a senior fellow at the University of Texas at the Clements Center for National Security in Austin, should not be discounted. Mattis’s dismissal is predicted to have an army chief to ensure a decision is made under an inexperienced president, while Biden’s goal is to return to normalcy. “If Congress grants this waiver, it will be very difficult in practice to re-establish this law,” he said. “The more we blur the line between civilian and military, the more we will weaken our military and make it less political and less efficient. We will end up with liberal commanders and conservative commanders, not American commanders.” No problem breaking in party ways. Some Republicans, including Senate Armed Services Chairman James Inhof and R-Okla, say they support ending the seven-year rule. “I always support the discount,” he told reporters Tuesday in Austin. “I don’t believe we should be there seven years anyway.” Senate majority Whip John Dune, RSD, said Congress would evaluate the exemption from the law. “This is the exception, not the rule,” Dune told reporters on Tuesday. “We did it to Mattis. So, I think there’s a reason for the oversight of the Department of Defense’s citizens. But again I do not rule it out or judge it, it’s something, we have to consider when the time comes.” Biden Wednesday Austin argued that “there is no doubt in my mind – no doubt – that this candidate will be honored, respected, and will breathe life into the primary policy of public leadership in our military affairs on a daily basis. The nation, “he said. Biden asked Congress to dismiss Austin as he gave Mattis in 2017. It was approved by Senate 81-17 in the Senate in 2017 and by 268-151 votes in the House, the way to confirm Matisse on the day of his inauguration before Trump takes office. Came from Democrats, and now some of them are saying that Austin should receive the same treatment. I consider. It certainly makes no sense. ”Representative. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, a member of the Democratic leadership, praised Austin as an “independent, four-star general who spent his life defending American freedoms.” Jeffries told reporters Tuesday that he will wait to see the case, but that Pitton’s team is being dismissed, but that Austin has been “disengaged from the military for years.” “My expectation is that we are going to strongly support his appointment and ensure that it receives both in due consideration,” he said, adding that “the issue of discounts should be properly addressed as it moves forward.” Retired Lieutenant Colonel Dummy Duckworth of the Army National Guard, who voted against the Mattis waiver, told MSNBC that he would oppose it again “on policy grounds” to Austin. But he expects approval, supports the appointment, calls Austin an “excellent officer,” who is probable and competent, and “will be an excellent defense secretary.” During Mattis’ tenure, security officials complained that he relied too much on his public officials, often cutting off civilians. During the Trump administration, many civil policy officers left the Pentagon, often without being replaced. In some cases, the vacancies were filled by military officials, which led to security officials mockingly referring to the Pentagon as “generals went into the woods.” Now, some security officials are worried that Austin, like Mattis, will be more dependent on her than the uniformed leaders of his civil policy group. Sen. James-Langford, R.-Okla., Said he was “not opposed” to dismissing the Pentagon candidate, noting that he supported it for Mattis. He said he would evaluate the next candidate “as a person or as a leader.”
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