Month: January 2024

The U.S. Defense Department has acknowledged that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has been hospitalized since Monday due to complications following a minor elective medical procedure. According to a statement from his press secretary, Austin had been admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Austin, 70, spent 41 years in the military, retiring as a four-star Army general in 2016.

Pentagon spokesperson Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Sunday that Austin is “still in the hospital and recovering well” and “resumed his full duties Friday evening,” , adding that he did not have details on when Austin would be discharged.  However, officials from the White House said that the National Security Council, including National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, was not informed Austin was in the hospital until Thursday morning. Similarly, the Senate Armed Services Committee was not notified about Austin’s hospitalization until Friday evening, saying: “the committee was notified before the press notification went out” about Austin.

Austin wrote in a press release on Saturday that he is “on the mend” and looks “forward to returning to the Pentagon soon.”  Austin said: “I also understand the media concerns about transparency and I recognize I could have done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed. I commit to doing better. But this is important to say: this was my medical procedure, and I take full responsibility for my decisions about disclosure.”

The Pentagon’s failure to disclose Austin’s hospitalization to the President and other senior White House officials and Cabinet members is not typical practice. The Pentagon Press Association, which represents media members who cover the Defense Department, sent a letter of protest which read: “The fact that he has been at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for four days and the Pentagon is only now alerting the public late on a Friday evening is an outrage. At a time when there are growing threats to U.S. military service members in the Middle East and the U.S. is playing key national security roles in the wars in Israel and Ukraine, it is particularly critical for the American public to be informed about the health status and decision-making ability of its top defense leader.”

The Biden administration said that the President spoke with Austin on Saturday evening, calling it a “warm conversation,” and adding that the president “absolutely has full confidence in Secretary Austin.”

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House and Senate leaders announced on Sunday a $1.59 trillion spending deal for government funding in 2024, tentatively averting a potential shutdown later this month. House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer shared that the agreement includes $886 billion in defense spending and $704 billion in non-defense spending.

Johnson’s and Schumer’s agreement reduces the chances of a shutdown, however, there are still major hurdles facing Congress ahead of two funding deadlines (January 19 and February 2).  Conservatives are still demanding to use the funding bill as leverage to impose more stringent immigration and border security demands, and congress will still have to approve funding bills to avoid a shutdown by the deadlines.

President Joe Biden said Sunday, “The bipartisan funding framework congressional leaders have reached moves us one step closer to preventing a needless government shutdown and protecting important national priorities. It reflects the funding levels that I negotiated with both parties and signed into law last spring.”

In a letter to his Republican colleagues Sunday, Johnson wrote: “We have secured hard-fought concessions to unlock the FY 24 topline numbers and allow the Appropriations Committee to finally begin negotiating and completing the twelve annual appropriations bills.” Concessions from Democrats include “an additional $10 billion in cuts to the IRS mandatory funding (for a total of $20 billion), which was a key part of the Democrats’ ‘Inflation Reduction Act.’ In addition, we will cut $6.1 billion from the Biden’s Administration’s continued COVID-era slush funds, which we achieved despite fierce opposition.”

Schumer’s statement with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said that the agreement on non-defense discretionary spending will allow Democrats to “protect key domestic priorities like veterans benefits, health care and nutrition assistance from the draconian cuts sought by right-wing extremists. It will also allow us to keep the investments for hardworking American families secured by the legislative achievements of President Biden and Congressional Democrats. We have made clear to Speaker Mike Johnson that Democrats will not support including poison pill policy changes in any of the twelve appropriations bills put before the Congress.”

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