National Defense

Four Capitol Hill veterans split on U.S. pullout

| Posted in In the News

Although Congress is currently in recess, lawmakers have taken to the airwaves and social media in recent days to offer support, recriminations and other commentaries on the U.S.’s departure from Afghanistan after 20 years and the Taliban’s rapid conquest of the country. In interviews with Jewish Insider on Monday, four House of the 74 total House veterans — including two…

Retired UNO dean and Afghanistan expert calls pullout from Afghanistan “tragic” and “embarrassing”

| Posted in In the News

OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Tom Gouttierre is the retired Dean of International Studies and Programs and the retired Director of the Center for Afghanistan Studies at the University of Nebraska Omaha. He first arrived in Afghanistan in 1965 as a Peace Corps volunteer. He taught high school and eventually coached the country’s national basketball team. Among his students was President Ashfar…

House Armed Services GOP demand Biden plan to prevent terror groups from using Afghanistan as 'safe haven'

| Posted in In the News

Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee demanded President Biden provide Congress with a plan to prevent terror groups from using Afghanistan as a "safe haven" after the Taliban takeover, while criticizing his response to the worsening security and humanitarian situation unfolding.  The top Republican on the committee, Rep. Mike Rogers, along with his GOP colleagues…

‘Cut the bureaucratic b.s.’: Inundated lawmakers call for speeding up Afghanistan evacuations

| Posted in In the News

Dozens of members of Congress are joining the scramble to evacuate people trapped in Afghanistan, urging President Joe Biden's administration to expedite the relocations as efforts to flee grow more dire — and deadly — by the hour. Multiple Democrats and Republicans say distressed calls to help evacuate U.S. residents, Afghan interpreters and other asylum-seekers have flooded their…

Bacon Issues Statement on the President’s Address

| Posted in Press Releases

Omaha, Neb. – Rep. Don Bacon (NE-02), a nearly 30-year veteran and retired brigadier general who was deployed four times to the Middle East, issued the following statement on Pres. Biden’s address concerning Afghanistan: “We have to address what the president didn’t say.   “Number one, President Biden didn’t take responsibility for the disaster that is happening…

Rep. Bacon to Newsmax: Biden's Plans to Remove Afghan Interpreters Too Late

| Posted in In the News

President Joe Biden is two to three months too late into developing a plan for removing interpreters from Afghanistan in the wake of the U.S. pullout of troops from the country, leaving them and others who worked to support the United States and coalition forces in danger of death at the hands of the Taliban, Rep. Don Bacon told Newsmax Saturday.  "We're just starting to get the…

Nebraska congressional delegation deplores Afghan tragedy

| Posted in In the News

ASHLAND — As Taliban forces continued to race across Afghanistan on their way to Kabul, members of Nebraska's all-Republican congressional delegation expressed outrage Thursday at the swift withdrawal of U.S. troops ordered by President Joe Biden. The drama unfolding in Afghanistan half a world away briefly threw the 2021 federal legislative summit hosted by the Lincoln…

'We will see money for bridges. We will see money for broadband': U.S. Senator Fischer says

| Posted in In the News

Nebraska's congressional delegation tackled a host of questions during a legislative summit at the Strategic Air Command & Aerospace Museum Thursday. [...] On funding for the University of Nebraska Medical Center's $ billion Project NExT, Congressman Jeff Fortenberry, who sits on the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee, said they are on track but at a "delicate"…

Bacon Furious Over President Biden’s “Cut and Run” Retreat and Abandonment of the Afghan Interpreters

| Posted in Press Releases

Omaha, Neb.— Rep. Don Bacon (NE-02) has released the following statement, expressing his outrage regarding the Biden Administration’s disastrous retreat and the rapidly deteriorating situation in Afghanistan: “President Biden’s reckless decision to continue the withdrawal from Afghanistan has set up the potential takeover of Kabul by the Taliban. Our national security interests are…

Meijer requests Biden’s support for bill to build war on terror memorial

| Posted in In the News

U.S. Rep. Peter Meijer (R-MI) this week joined members of the For Country Caucus in requesting a meeting with President Biden to discuss passage and enactment of legislation that would authorize construction of the Global War on Terrorism Memorial in Washington, D.C. [...] U.S. Reps. Don Bacon (R-NE), Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), Brian Mast (R-FL), Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH), and Jared…