Retired Marine General James ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis Approved By Congress To Run Trump’s Pentagon
By Fox News // January 14, 2017
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(FOX NEWS) – Congress approved legislation Friday that allows retired Marine Gen. James Mattis to run the Pentagon in the Trump administration.
The House easily cleared the bill, 268-151, despite complaints from many Democrats that Republicans had rushed the measure unnecessarily. The Senate overwhelmingly passed the legislation a day earlier. A White House spokesman said President Barack Obama would sign the measure if Congress approved it before he leaves office.
The bill grants a one-time exception for Mattis from the law that bars former service members who have been out of uniform for less than seven years from holding the top Pentagon job. The restriction is meant to preserve civilian control of the military. Mattis, 66, retired from the Marine Corps in 2013.
Congress last granted an exception to the law in 1950 for George Marshall, a former five-star Army general and secretary of state.
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