The House Republican Conference on Nov. 28 selected Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) and Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) to continue their present roles as House Armed Services Committee chairman and House Appropriations Committee chairman, respectively, in the 113th Congress that starts in January. “I am honored that my colleagues have chosen me to continue to lead one of the most productive and bipartisan committees in the House,” said McKeon in a release. “We have talented and energetic members on both sides of the aisle who lead their parties and the nation in defending our freedom,” he added, noting that he looks forward to working with Ranking Member Adam Smith (D-Wash.). “Over the past two years, I’ve been proud to oversee the committee’s responsible shepherding of federal tax dollars under an open and transparent process—saving the American tax payer almost $100 billion,” said Rogers in a separate release. There have been no formal announcements yet who will chair the HASC subcommittees or the HAC’s defense-related panels.
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.