Sept. 30 is a very important day in Washington, D.C., for two reasons: it is when Congress is set to leave for the entire month of October so lawmakers can campaign, and it is also the deadline to approve government funding. The new federal fiscal year begins Oct. 1, so the government will shut down…

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is warning Congress that passing a temporary budget bill to keep the government open would have devastating impacts on the Defense Department. The bill would keep the federal government funded for another six months, but cap spending at 2024 levels.  In a letter to members of Congress on Sunday, Sept. 8, Austin…

With just one day to go, former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are preparing for the first debate between the presidential candidates. And Apple is reportedly set to unveil its latest iPhone models powered by artificial intelligence. These stories and more highlight The Morning Rundown for Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. Trump, Harris prepare for presidential debate with…

The United States has a significant amount of naval and air assets in the Middle East right now. The Pentagon said those forces are “postured to support the defense of Israel and protect U.S. troops and assets in the region.” Israel’s war against Hamas is still mostly contained to Gaza, and the back-and-forth attacks with…

A second U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, arrived in the Middle East on Wednesday, Aug. 21, joining the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which has been stationed in the region since mid-July. The U.S. military’s Central Command shared video of F-35 jets taking off from the Lincoln’s deck, highlighting the heightened military presence in…

Vice President Kamala Harris prepares to address the Democratic National Convention (DNC) Thursday, Aug. 22 night, just hours after Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz formally accepted the party’s nomination for vice president. And former President Donald Trump appeared behind bulletproof glass in his first outdoor rally since his attempted assassination. These stories and more highlight The Morning Rundown…

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has ordered a guided missile submarine to the Middle East. And Tom Cruise gives the Paris Olympics a Hollywood ending as we look toward the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles. These stories and more highlight The Morning Rundown for Monday, Aug. 12, 2024. U.S. sending submarine to Middle East amid new…

The military hearings at Guantanamo Bay for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and two co-defendants are in disarray. The upheaval stems from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s sudden decision to cancel a plea agreement that had been in place. The revocation of the plea deal, which would have allowed…

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is calling on the Biden administration to release all previously withheld and delayed weapons to Israel, as tensions build between the Jewish state and Iran and its proxies. The weapons Johnson referred to are being delivered, but at a slower pace than they had been directly after the Oct. 7 Hamas…

United States Forces Japan is getting a glow up, and Japan couldn’t be happier about it. After a meeting between the U.S. secretaries of State and Defense and their Japanese counterparts, the four leaders announced a plan to upgrade the headquarters of U.S. military personnel in Japan to a joint force headquarters. “This will be…