Geraldo: Im a Republican, NAACP Is Just a Democratic Satellite
Geraldo Rivera is a life-long Republican and a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) who thinks the civil rights organization has become a satellite...
By: TopWorldNews
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Geraldo: Im a Republican, NAACP Is Just a Democratic Satellite - Video
Republican Surge Changes Trade Politics
Some long-stalled trade agreements could move forward now that there is a new Republican majority in the U.S. Senate, but getting congressional approval for these deals may require some unusual...
By: DocumentingNews
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Republican Surge Changes Trade Politics - Video
Speaker John Boehner Delivers the Weekly Republican Address
http://www.speaker.gov/
By: John Boehner
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Speaker John Boehner Delivers the Weekly Republican Address - Video
With Republican majorities now assured in both houses of Congress, Pentagon spending is likely to grow to cope with national security threats around the globe.
The White House announced Friday that it would request $5.6 billion in additional funds from Congress for airstrikes and other operations against Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria. The total includes $1.6 billion to develop and train Iraqi security forces, which were routed by the Sunni militants last summer.
But that figure may be dwarfed if Republican hawks follow through on promises to roll back mandatory defense spending cuts imposed by a government-wide budget cut known as sequestration.
Pentagon officials certainly hope so.
"We need Congress' support to get done so many of the things that we're trying to get done, not the least of which is taking sequestration off our backs," said Rear Adm. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman.
The Republican sweep in Tuesday's election puts Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a strong critic of defense cuts, on track to take over the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee.
McCain already has called for stepping up the campaign against Islamic State, doing more to defeat Syrian President Bashar Assad and providing arms to Ukraine to fend off Russian forces, among other actions.
That could mean federal funding will flow more freely to defense contractors in aerospace-rich places like Southern California, which suffered waves of layoffs over fears related to Pentagon spending cuts.
"National security was a big issue during the elections; it was out front," said Cord Sterling, vice president for legislative affairs at the Aerospace Industries Assn., a trade and lobbying organization in Arlington, Va. "There's likely to be an attempt to redraft budgets."
With U.S. combat troops out of Iraq and being withdrawn from Afghanistan, the Pentagon was under pressure to lower war-related spending in the last round of budget requests for fiscal 2015.
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Republican control of Congress could mean more military spending
SPRINGFIELD, Va. Ed Gillespie's U.S. Senate campaign ended in defeat Friday as the Pemberton Township native conceded the razor-tight Virginiarace to Democratic incumbent Mark Warner.
"The votes just aren't there," Gillespie told his supporters, adding that he had called Warner earlier in the day to congratulate him.
It "would be wrong to put my fellow Virginians through a recount," he said, "when in my head and my heart I know that a different outcome is not possible."
The latest numbers from the State Board of Elections show Warner leading by more than 16,000 votes, with 49.1 percent of the vote, and Gillespie at 48.4 percent, out of more than 2 million ballots cast. Libertarian Robert Sarvis was third with 2.4 percent. Warner's margin had increased slightly over the previous two days.
Virginia law allows a loser to seek a recount if the margin of defeat is less than a percentage point. But the state will pay for the recount only if the margin is less than 0.5 percentage points. Because Gillespie is down by 0.7 points, he would have been on the hook to pay for any recount.
Gillespie left the reception room with his wife, Cathy, without taking questions from reporters. On the way out, he shook hands with some of the more than 100 supporters, who applauded and cheered.
A 1979 graduate of Pemberton Township High School, Gillespie previously worked as a political strategist and communications adviser for President George W. Bush and other Republican lawmakers. He served as chairman of the Republican National Committee in 2003, and the following year was credited with helping Bush win re-election to the White House and the GOP win majorities in the Senate and House.
The U.S. Senate race marked the first time he ever ran as a candidate himself.
Warner issued a statement commending Gillespie on his campaign and saying, "Virginians sent an unmistakable message both to me and Congress as a whole: End the gridlock and get to work." Warner promised to work with Republicans on reducing the budget deficit and other issues.
Warner, a former governor who is one of Virginia's most popular politicians, had been expected to handily win a second term. But Gillespie, a former Republican National Committee chairman, rode a wave of support for GOP candidates nationwide, and almost knocked Warner out of the Senate despite being outspent heavily.
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Republican Gillespie concedes Va. Senate race