13 Jan 17. Congress on Friday passed historic legislation allowing retired US Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis to serve as the next defense secretary, overriding some Democrats who took a stand for civilian control of the military. The move bypasses a law that mandates a seven-year “cooling off” period between military service and assuming the top civilian defense job. Mattis, 66, retired in 2013 after a 44-year military career and serving as commander of US Central Command. The House voted 268-151, with mainly Republicans — and 36 Democrats — voting in favor. Many Democrats revolted after the Trump transition team backed Mattis out of his commitment to testify before the House Armed Services Committee on Thursday. President Obama is expected sign off on legislation allowing Mattis to serve as defense secretary. White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters that Obama will not stand in the way of Mattis’ appointment once Congress passes the legislation. Congress is expected to vote to confirm Mattis on Jan. 20, after President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated. On the House floor before the vote, Republicans led by House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, largely argued that Mattis was worthy of extraordinary consideration because, like the last time Congress passed such a waiver, the nation faces extraordinary challenges.
“We face challenging times today,” Thornberry said. “We live in an increasingly dangerous world and we confront it with a military that’s been significantly damaged by budget cuts and other actions.”
Thornberry said he shared “legitimate complaints” with colleagues about the president-elect’s transition team refusing to allow Mattis to come to a hearing and testify before the House, even though Mattis himself was very eager to do so. He called it “a mistake and shortsighted” of the transition team. Democrats, led by committee Ranking Member Adam Smith, D-Wash., said it was their responsibility not vote to override a 70-year-old law without hearing from Mattis first. Smith said lawmakers should have “showed backbone” and not voted on the waiver until the transition team permitted Mattis to testify.
To do otherwise would set a bad precedent for the relationship between Congress and the Trump White House, Smith said.
“If we don’t stand up for ourselves now, we’re going to be rolled over countlessly,” Smith said. “We all want to support Gen. Mattis, we want that bipartisan vote. The way to get that vote is to do what we said we were going to do: Have him come before the Armed Services Committee and address the issues we want to raise. House Republican aides said privately that the Trump transition team’s refusal to let Mattis testify was an unforced error, which upended Mattis’ chances to ride in on a strong wave of bipartisan support and unnecessarily politicized national security.
After Mattis’s smooth confirmation hearing Thursday, his waiver passed the Senate 81-17, in a largely bipartisan vote. It had passed the Senate Armed Services Committee with only three Democrats opposing.
Democrats universally argued their opposition was not to Mattis but the principle of civilian control of the military.
The Senate’s top Democrat, Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., said Thursday he was concerned the waiver would set a dangerous precedent but would vote for him based on Mattis’s “commitment to civilian leadership and his military expertise.”
“However, as history has demonstrated, Congress has enacted an exception one time since the creation of the Department of Defense,” Reed said. “And waiving the law should happen no more than once in a generation. Therefore I will not support a waiver for future nominees. Nor will I support any effort to water down or repeal the statute in the future.”
The requirement was originally set by law in 1947, when Congress established a minimum of 10 years out of active duty. It was changed to seven years in 2008. Only one exception to the law requiri