Senate passes defense bill that will raise troop pay and aims to counter China's power

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate passed a defense bill Wednesday that authorizes significant pay raises for junior enlisted service members, aims to counter China's growing power and boosts overall military spending to $895 billion while also stripping coverage of transgender medical treatments for...

Senate committee to hold confirmation hearing for defense secretary nominee Hegseth on Jan 14

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense is expected to face his first public questioning from U.S. senators on Jan. 14. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., told reporters Wednesday that the committee is...

House approves $895B defense bill with military pay raise, ban on transgender care for minors

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House on Wednesday passed a $895 billion measure that authorizes a 1% increase in defense spending this fiscal year and would give a double-digit pay raise to about half of the enlisted service members in the military. The bill is traditionally strongly...

Clarke Reed, who helped Gerald Ford win the 1976 Republican nomination, has died at 96

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Clarke Reed, a Mississippi businessman who developed the Republican Party in his home state and across the South starting in the 1960s, died Sunday at his home in Greenville, Mississippi. He was 96. Reed was chairman of the Mississippi Republican Party from...

Taiwanese President Lai has phone talks from Guam with US Congress leaders

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te held phone calls with U.S. congressional leaders on Thursday while visiting Guam, his second U.S. stop on a Pacific Island trip. Lai said in a post on X that he had spoken with Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and House...

Republicans rally around Hegseth, Trump's Pentagon pick, as Gaetz withdraws for attorney general

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump’s allies on Capitol Hill rallied around Pete Hegseth, Trump’s Pentagon pick, on Thursday even as new details surfaced about allegations that he had sexually assaulted a woman in 2017. The GOP embrace of Hegseth came as another...

Republican Sen. Wicker wins reelection in Mississippi, defeating Democrat Ty Pinkins

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Republican Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi has defeated Democrat Ty Pinkins, a challenger who received little financial support from his own party in a heavily Republican state. Wicker, 73, is extending his 30-year career on Capitol Hill. He is an attorney...

Republican Roger Wicker wins reelection to U.S. Senate from Mississippi

AP Race Call: Republican Roger Wicker wins reelection to U.S. Senate from Mississippi

Republican Sen. Roger Wicker won reelection to a U.S. Senate seat representing Mississippi on Tuesday. Wicker defeated Democrat Ty Pinkins, an attorney. Wicker is an attorney and served in the state Senate of Mississippi before winning a U.S. House seat in 1994. He has been in the U.S. Senate since 2007, when he...

Democrat Ty Pinkins is outspent as he tries to unseat Republican Sen. Roger Wicker in Mississippi

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Democrat Ty Pinkins has jogged along highways and past cotton fields to try to draw attention to his effort to unseat Mississippi's senior Republican U.S. senator, Roger Wicker. Pinkins acknowledges it's a tough campaign. Republican-dominated Mississippi...