NEW YEAR, SAME OLD ANXIETY: It’s early in the process, but the prospect of a deal to fully fund the Pentagon seems as elusive as ever as the Jan. 19 expiration of the latest continuing resolution is just two weeks away. Yesterday, White House budget director Mick Mulvaney met for an hour with Republican and Democratic leaders in the office of House Speaker Paul Ryan. Both sides expressed guarded optimism and promised to keep at it in the coming days.
But there were signs that the deal is still far out of reach. Democrats insisted on language in the spending bill that would protect children of illegal immigrants by reinstating the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that President Trump rescinded.
“It's time that Congress pass DACA protections into law and fix this once and for all,” Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer said in a floor speech. “We're ready to negotiate a reasonable border security package to pass alongside DACA. We believe in border security. We want to make it work,” Schumer said, but he termed what he called “the absurdly expensive and ineffective border wall” an “unreasonable demand.” But he added, “I do not doubt that we can reach an agreement on DACA that's acceptable to both sides.”
After the meeting, Republicans said they are holding out for a spending deal first, and an immigration deal later. “It is important that we achieve a two-year agreement that funds our troops and provides for our national security and other critical functions of the Federal government,” the White House, Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a joint statement. “It also remains important that members of Congress do not hold funding for our troops hostage for immigration policy.
“We’ve been clear about these budget priorities from the beginning and hope that further discussions will lead to an agreement soon,” they added.
Unlike the passage of the tax reform bill, passage of the budget requires 60 votes in the Senate, which means the Republicans need at least nine Democratic votes to break the deadlock.
NO MORE VOTES THIS WEEK: Senators will not hold any more votes this week as a major winter storm is tearing through the East Coast. "There will be no further roll call votes during this week's session of the Senate," McConnell said on the floor to close out the day Wednesday.
The Senate will be in today beginning at 11 a.m., the Senate Periodicals announced, but will hold no further votes this week. Members are also still expected to hold their weekly party lunches. The House is not in session this week.
PENCE POINT MAN ON IRAN: Vice President Mike Pence has emerged as the leading voice for the administration on the unrest in Iran. Pence was on Twitter, interviewed on Voice of America, and wrote an op-ed that appears in this morning’s Washington Post. The main message: Trump is not going to repeat the mistakes of President Barack Obama in 2009 when Iranian reformists protesting the reelection of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in what was known as the Green Revolution were crushed by the government.
“The last administration’s refusal to act ultimately emboldened Iran’s tyrannical rulers to crack down on the dissent. The Green Revolution was ruthlessly put down, and the deadly silence on the streets of Iran matched the deafening silence from the White House. To this day, many Iranians blame the United States for abandoning them in their hour of need,” Pence wrote in his opinion piece.
Yesterday Pence tweeted, “Protesters in Iran should know there’s bipartisan support in America for the freedom-loving people of Iran who continue to fight against their government’s corruption and tyranny.”
Today in Iran, a second day of flag-waving pro-government counter protests, which appear to have been orchestrated by the regime, dominated state-run news coverage, and the state of the anti-government demonstrations that sprang up organically around the country is unclear. The White House has said Trump is seriously weighing whether to reimpose sanctions on Tehran this month that were lifted in accordance with the Iran nuclear deal. On Twitter yesterday, Trump promised the people of Iran, “You will see great support from the United States at the appropriate time!”
On VOA, Pence called the protests “a genuine opportunity,” and called the nuclear deal a failure. “You know, the hope of the Iran nuclear deal was that it would encourage a more moderate Iran, but we've seen nothing of the kind,” he said.
Good Thursday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre), National Security Writer Travis J. Tritten (@travis_tritten) and Senior Editor David Brown (@dave_brown24). Email us here for tips, suggestions, calendar items and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list. And be sure to follow us on Twitter @dailyondefense.
SENATE CONFIRMS DOD POLICY CHIEF: The Senate overwhelmingly confirmed John Rood to the Pentagon’s top policy job despite Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s opposition and concerns over conflicts of interest. The final vote tally was 81-7, as several senators did not make roll call. Rood is taking the top undersecretary for policy position after most recently serving as a Lockheed Martin vice president in charge of growing the defense giant’s international business in about 70 countries. He also served in the State Department as an acting undersecretary and sat on the National Security Council during the George W. Bush administration. It was Rood’s work overseeing Lockheed’s overseas arms sales and the possibility that he could again deal with it as a Pentagon official that triggered Warren’s opposition. She and Sen. John McCain had grilled Rood about a potential conflict of interest before the Senate Armed Services Committee in November.
“President Trump has stocked the Pentagon with an unprecedented number of nominees directly from the defense industry,” Warren said on the Senate floor. Rood and other nominees from industry will oversee billions of dollars in annual defense contracts. “Without strict ethics rules and oversight these nominees have the power to significantly influence the profitability of their former employers, the same companies that may, once again, be the nominees’ future employers after they have finished their government service,” Warren said. Rood signed an agreement with the Office of Government Ethics that bars him from being involved in Lockheed business for two years. He also divested his interest in the company, which is the country’s largest defense contractor and also the prime contractor for the multinational F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program.
TWO NEW NOMINEES: Counting the Rood confirmation, the Senate has so far approved nominees to 33 of the 57 Pentagon positions as Trump closes out his first year in office. The president announced his intention Wednesday to send two more nominees to the Hill. Will Roper has been tapped to be Air Force assistant secretary for acquisition. He has headed up the secretive Strategic Capabilities Office since it was created in 2012 by former Defense Secretary Ash Carter to create innovative mash-ups of existing military tech. Last year, he demoed a swarm of micro-drones created by SCO and dropped from F/A-18 Super Hornets for the CBS News show “60 Minutes.”
Trump will also nominate Kevin Fahey to be assistant secretary of defense for acquisition. Fahey works as vice president of combat vehicles and armaments at Cypress International Office, a D.C. area defense consulting firm, and previously worked at the Pentagon in the office of the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology.
HOTLINE ACTIVE: The cross-border hotline between North and South has been used at least five times so far since the communications link was reestablished this week, but nothing of significance has been discussed. So far all the communication on the phone between buildings at the Demilitarized Zone have just been technical checks to show the line is working.
AND TRUMP TOOK CREDIT THIS MORNING: “With all of the failed ‘experts’ weighing in, does anybody really believe that talks and dialogue would be going on between North and South Korea right now if I wasn’t firm, strong and willing to commit our total ‘might’ against the North. Fools, but talks are a good thing!” he tweeted.
‘STOP TWEETING, START LEADING’: In his Senate floor speech yesterday, Schumer implored Republicans to urge their president to “stop tweeting and start leading,” arguing that Trump’s itchy Twitter finger is "doing serious damage" to the country.
“Over the course of the past year, President Trump has unfortunately squandered the moral authority that comes with the presidency of the United States, a moral authority that has taken generations to carefully build, that helps us be a light to the world and helps us economically in every way as the world has always looked up to America and our ideals,” Schumer said. “But unfortunately that moral authority is declining under President Trump's leadership and declining rapidly. It may have reached a new low point yesterday, when President Trump, in
BIDEN WEIGHS IN: On CNN yesterday, former Vice President Joe Biden said Trump’s tweet was “not presidential.” Asked about the tweet by a CNN reporter, Biden said, “This is not a game. This is not about, can I puff my chest out bigger than your chest.”
PENCE TO THE DEFENSE: The vice president was quick to come to Trump’s defense, saying the president’s infamous tweet warning North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that Trump has a “much bigger and more powerful” nuclear button sent a clear message that “America will not be bullied.”
“In the message the President sent — in the wake of Kim Jong Un's New Year's message, where, while on the one hand he talked about wanting to reach out to his neighbors to the south, it's the same moment he spoke of having missiles that could reach the United States and
WHITE HOUSE TAKE: White House press secretary Sarah Sanders brushed aside questions about Trump’s mental fitness after he taunted Kim with the “bigger button” tweet and said instead Americans should be worried about Kim’s mental capacity.
“I think the people of this country should be concerned about the mental fitness of the leader of North Korea. He's made repeated threats. He’s tested missiles time and time again for years, and this is a president who is not going to cower down and is not going to be weak and is going to make sure he does what he's promised to do, and that's stand up and protect the American people,” Sanders said Wednesday during the White House press briefing.
SYRIA’S CIVIL WAR: The Islamic State may be on the run in eastern Syria, but in the
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry is denying a report that it lost seven warplanes to rebel shelling at Syria’s Hmeymim air base on Dec. 31. According to a report on Kommersant, at least four Su-24 bombers, two Su-35S fighters
MEDIA MOVES: The military and veterans news site Task & Purpose
THE RUNDOWN
Wall Street Journal: Iran Protests Caught Trump Administration by Surprise
Defense One: Waiting for the Bomb to Drop
USNI News: VIDEO: Houthi Forces Capture U.S. Navy Unmanned Underwater Vehicle Off Yemen
AP: Q&A: Is there a chance for a breakthrough with the Koreas?
Roll Call: Let’s Not Make a Deal: No Breakthrough on Spending
New York Times: Trump Watches From the Sidelines as the Koreas Begin to Talk
Defense News: How often does Congress use continuing resolutions to prevent government shutdowns?
Military Times: Future of Special Capabilities Office uncertain, as director lands Air Force nomination
Foreign Policy: Trump Weighs Sanctions to Punish Iran Crackdown
Calendar
THURSDAY | JAN. 4
11 a.m. 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE. Crashback: The Power Clash Between the U.S. and China in the Pacific. heritage.org
1 p.m. Senate Visitor Center 209-08. Mitchell Hour discussion on threats to air supremacy with Lt. Gen. Chris Nowland, Air Force deputy chief of staff for operations, and Lt. Gen. VeraLinn “Dash” Jamieson, deputy chief of staff for ISR. mitchellaerospacepower.org
3 p.m. 1201 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W. Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific Strategy. hudson.org
FRIDAY | JAN. 5
9 a.m. 1800 M St. NW. The Iran Protests: Implications for the Islamic Republic and Beyond. defenddemocracy.org
MONDAY | JAN. 8
10 a.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave. N.W. Confronting North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs: American and Japanese views of threats and options compared. brookings.edu
1 p.m. 1211 Connecticut Ave. NW. Caught in Conflict: Working to Prevent the Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers with retired Lt. Gen. Roméo Dallaire, served as the Force Commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda during the 1994 genocide. stimson.org
3 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. The Fourteen Points: World War One and Woodrow Wilson’s Legacy 100 Years Later. csis.org
4 p.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Discussion of “Safeguarding Democratic Capitalism: U.S. Foreign Policy and National Security, 1920-2015” with author Melvyn Leffler. wilsoncenter.org
6 p.m. 1777 F St. NW. Book launch of The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam by Max Boot. cfr.org
TUESDAY | JAN. 9
8 a.m. 1919 North Lynn St. Procurement Division Meeting. ndia.org
10 a.m. Dirksen 419. Attacks on U.S. Diplomats in Cuba: Response and Oversight. foreign.senate.gov
12:30 p.m. 1777 F St. NW. What to Worry About in 2018 with former Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken. cfr.org
2:00 p.m. Rayburn 2118. Subcommittee hearing on China’s pursuit of emerging and exponential technologies. armedservices.house.gov
2 p.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Security Challenges in East Asia. wilsoncenter.org
WEDNESDAY | JAN. 10
10 a.m. Rayburn 2118. Full committee hearing and Department of Defense update on the Financial Improvement and Audit Remediation (FIAR) Plan. armedservices.house.gov
12 p.m. 1201 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Realizing A Free and Peaceful Indo-Pacific. hudson.org
1 p.m. 1211 Connecticut Ave. NW. With Great Power: Modifying U.S. Arms Sales to Reduce Civilian Harm. stimson.org
THURSDAY | JAN. 11
12 p.m. 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE. Rep. Ron DeSantis discusses President Trump’s “Ultimate Deal”: Is Israeli-Palestinian Peace Possible? heritage.org
