Before the midterm elections, Trump needlessly deployed thousands of U.S. troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to try to rally his racist base against immigrants. Even though the ploy didn’t work, Trump still kept it up — and now, what started as a racist campaign stunt could end up costing taxpayers more than $1 billion, the Washington Post reports. The nakedly partisan use of American troops, in add... Read More »
A bipartisan group of lawmakers is pushing back on President Trump’s transgender troop ban that the Supreme Court allowed to go into effect last month. The legislation, spearheaded by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, New York Democrat, and Rep. Jackie Speier, California Democrat and chair of the House Armed Services Military Personnel Subcommittee, seeks to protect transgender troops and prevent the Defen... Read More »
A group of bipartisan lawmakers on Thursday introduced bills that would allow openly transgender people to enlist in the military and protect trans servicemembers who are already serving. U.S. Reps. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), Joseph Kennedy (D-Mass.), John Katko (R-N.Y.), Susan Davis (D-Calif.) and Anthony Brown (D-Md.) introduced House Resolution 1032 in the U.S. House of Representatives. U.S. Sen... Read More »
A new bill introduced in both the House and Senate would allow transgender people to openly serve in the military and preempt Donald Trump’s transgender military ban. Representative Jackie Speier (D-CA) and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced legislation that ban the military from discharging and refusing to reenlist a servicemember because of their gender identity. The bills also say tha... Read More »
Former Maryland gubernatorial candidate and United States Congressman Anthony Brown met with the Prince George’s County delegation prior to addressing the general assembly in Annapolis. Brown navigated through inclement weather and braved the elements on a historically frigid day on February 1. On his visit to the State Capital, Brown called for greater partnership between Maryland’s legislative b... Read More »
WASHINGTON — A Maryland state senator, who serves the people of Montgomery County in Annapolis, will soon leave for Afghanistan to serve his country. Sen. Will Smith of Silver Spring is a Democrat representing District 20 and a civil rights attorney. He is also an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve, and has received orders from the Pentagon to deploy to Afghanistan. Smith will be part o... Read More »
WASHINGTON — Navy officials have claimed procedural changes in a waiver system that led to the fifth combat deployment of Chief Petty Officer Shannon Kent, who was killed in action last month in Syria while awaiting a commission waiver to attend a doctoral program after a cancer diagnosis. The news comes quickly after four Maryland lawmakers and three others sent Acting Secretary of Defense Shanah... Read More »
A group of bipartisan lawmakers on Thursday introduced bills that would allow openly transgender people to enlist in the military and protect trans servicemembers who are already serving. U.S. Reps. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), Joseph Kennedy (D-Mass.), John Katko (R-N.Y.), Susan Davis (D-Calif.) and Anthony Brown (D-Md.) introduced House Resolution 1032 in the U.S. House of Representatives. U.S. Sen... Read More »
A single court injunction is all that's keeping the Pentagon from enacting new policy restrictions on transgender troops serving openly. But new bills introduced in the House and Senate on Thursday would pre-empt the policy and give transgender troops legal protection. In the Senate, a bipartisan trio of lawmakers including Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York; Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island; and Susan... Read More »
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of House and Senate lawmakers introduced new legislation Thursday designed to block President Donald Trump’s rules regarding transgender troops by removing any limits to their service. “This bill makes it clear to our brave transgender troops that we see them and that we honor the risks they take,” California Democratic Rep. Jackie Speier said in a statement on the ... Read More »
A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced legislation on Thursday that would allow transgender people to serve openly in the military, after the Supreme Court last month moved to allow President Trump’s transgender troop ban to go into effect. The legislation was introduced by Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.) in the Senate and Reps. Jackie Speier (... Read More »
A bipartisan group of lawmakers from both chambers of Congress is seeking to thwart President Donald Trump's transgender military ban. Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.; Jack Reed, D-R.I.; and Susan Collins, R-Maine, introduced legislation Thursday that would permit transgender service members to continue to serve and allow trans people to join the military. “President Trump’s ban on transgender se... Read More »
A bipartisan group of congressional lawmakers has introduced a bill to block President Donald Trump’s proposed ban on transgender troops from moving forward. Under the bill, the so-called “Mattis Plan,” which bans any transgender service members with gender dysphoria or have undergone a gender transition, would be declared “inconsistent” with the goals of promoting military readiness. Any person w... Read More »
The cost of President Trump’s deployment of active-duty troops and National Guard forces to the U.S. border with Mexico could approach an estimated $1 billion by the end of the fiscal year should the missions continue apace until then, according to figures the Department of Defense has released and independent assessments. Trump said Tuesday during his State of the Union address that he had ordere... Read More »
WASHINGTON — Navy officials said they have made several changes to a flawed commissioning and waiver process that led to the deployment of a linguist killed in Syria last month. Navy Chief Petty Officer Shannon Kent, a 35-year-old mother of two, was killed Jan. 16 by a suicide bomber at a restaurant in the Syrian city of Manbij. It was her fifth combat tour. Last fall, Kent was slated to attend a ... Read More »
