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Republicans rail over Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin not disclosing hospital stay

Republicans in the House of Representatives and Senate railed over the Department of Defense not publicly disclosing Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin‘s hospital stay this week until Friday.

The Pentagon announced late Friday that Austin had been at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for much of the week, beginning on Monday and finally returning to his duties on Friday. Reports have suggested that the White House was unaware of Austin’s hospital stay, leading to outrage from the press and lawmakers over a lack of transparency by the Department of Defense.

Ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), wished Lloyd a “speedy recovery” but also called the lack of transparency “unacceptable.”

“We are learning more every hour about the Department’s shocking defiance of the law. When one of the country’s two National Command Authorities is unable to perform their duties, military families, Members of Congress, and the American public deserve to know the full extent of the circumstances. This episode further erodes trust in the Biden Administration, which has repeatedly failed to inform the public in a timely fashion about critical events such as the Chinese spy balloon and the withdrawal from Afghanistan,” Wicker said in a statement on Saturday.

Wicker also questioned why the hospital stay was withheld from the public and other administration officials, along with what the procedure was.

“The very fact that we have none of this information is an indictment of an administration which consistently holds Congressional authority on national defense matters in contempt,” he added.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK), who is on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on Saturday that there should be “consequences” for the “shocking breakdown.”

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