President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spent a second day on Capitol Hill meeting privately with Republican senators.

The Senate has confirmed a new commander of U.S. Army forces in the Pacific after Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville dropped his objections and allowed a quick vote on the nomination.

Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville is blocking the quick promotion of an aide to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

More than half of Americans say they are against college athletes unionizing, though younger respondents were more supportive than older, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Defense officials say Gen. Eric Smith is taking steps to return to full duty as commandant of the Marine Corps, about four months after being sidelined due to a heart attack.

The Marine Corps says Gen. Eric Smith, the commandant, has had open heart surgery and is expected to return to full duty as the service's leader.

The Senate has unanimously confirmed 11 top-ranking military officers.

The Senate in a single stroke has approved about 425 military promotions after Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama ended a monthslong blockade of nominations over a Pentagon abortion policy.

Sen. Joni Ernst, a Republican from Iowa, was choking on food during a luncheon when fellow Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky performed the Heimlich maneuver on her.

Senate Democrats have moved to temporarily change Senate rules and confirm hundreds of military nominees.

Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville said he’s open to negotiating an end to his blockade of almost 400 military nominees after meeting with fellow Republican senators, signaling a shift after he has dug in on his protest of a Pentagon abortion policy for more than nine months.

The Senate has confirmed three top military officers, including the first female member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Republican senators have angrily challenged Sen. Tommy Tuberville on his blockade of almost 400 military officers.

The Senate is confirming three of the Pentagon’s top leaders, filling the posts after monthslong delays and as a Republican senator is still holding up hundreds of other nominations and promotions for military officers.

The Senate has confirmed Gen. CQ Brown as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, putting him in place to succeed Gen. Mark Milley when he retires at the end of the month.

In the months since a single senator froze military promotions over the Pentagon’s abortion policy, the uniformed officers affected have been largely silent, wary of stepping into a political fray.

The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee is slamming a fellow Republican in the Senate for waging an unprecedented attempt to change Pentagon abortion policy by holding up hundreds of military nominations and promotions.

Military officials say an Alabama senator's hold on top promotions in a clash over abortion policy raises national security concerns.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is warning that troop readiness and retention is at risk as the Army’s chief recently stepped down, leaving the military’s two ground combat forces without Senate-confirmed leaders for the first time in history.

Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville is waging an unprecedented campaign to try to change Pentagon abortion policy by holding up hundreds of military nominations and promotions.

The House has passed a sweeping defense bill that provides a pay raise for service members but strays from traditional military policy with Republicans add-ons blocking abortion coverage, diversity initiatives at the Pentagon and transgender care.

President Joe Biden says it is “irresponsible” of an Alabama senator to block confirmation of military officers in protest of a Defense Department policy that pays for travel when a service member has to go out of state to get an abortion or reproductive care.

Alabama Sen_ Tommy Tuberville is backing off his defense of white nationalists, telling reporters in the Capitol that white nationalists “are racists.”.

President Joe Biden’s pick to serve as America’s top military officer is warning senators of the difficulties posed by any potential conflict in Asia and describing how he would use lessons learned from the Ukraine war to help the U.S. military prepare.

The U.S. Marine Corps is without a confirmed leader for the first time in a century as Gen. David Berger stepped down as commandant and a Republican senator is blocking confirmation of his successor.

Hopes have been dashed for an imminent end to a Senate standoff that has delayed the promotions of more than 200 military officers and could delay the confirmation of President Joe Biden’s pick for chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville says the top general in charge of U.S. Space Command told him during a meeting Wednesday that Huntsville, not Colorado Springs, Colorado, is the preferred location for its new headquarters.

Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville is facing backlash for remarks he made about white nationalists in an interview about his blockade of military nominees.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell says he won’t support a fellow GOP senator’s blockade of military nominees, backing Democrats and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin who have said that the holdup is harming national security.

Descendants of the Alabama man responsible for illegally bringing 110 African captives to America aboard the last U.S. slave ship have broken generations of public silence.

U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville said Tuesday that the country has too many “takers” instead of workers and suggested that many in younger generations — including people in their 40s — don’t understand they need to work.

As far as Jeremy Ellis is concerned, Republican Tommy Tuberville should know or learn more about the long history and struggles of the Black Alabama residents he represents in the U.S. Senate.

Republican Sen_ Tommy Tuberville is asserting that Democrats support reparations for the descendants of enslaved people because, in his words, “they think the people that do the crime are owed that."

Republican Roy Moore of Alabama has won a defamation lawsuit against a Democratic-aligned super PAC over campaign ads dating to his failed 2017 Senate bid.

An appeals court has rejected a $95 million defamation lawsuit filed by former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore against Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen.

Lawmakers in Congress sometimes concoct amendments that are so politically devastating to the rival party that they provoke terror or grudging admiration.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., walks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, Feb. 12, 2021, after the fourth day of the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump. AdGoodman has been in the chamber for much of the impeachment trial, in which House Democrats are charging that former President Donald Trump incited the Jan. 6 insurrection. Senators are submitting written questions to the prosecution and the defense in the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump. But he's made a comeback as one of Donald Trump's lawyers at the former president's impeachment trial. AdHe's getting a chance to make a different impression when he begins to present Trump’s defense on Friday.

(Senate Television via AP)WASHINGTON – The Latest on former President Donald Trump's second Senate impeachment trial (all times local):8:20 p.m.House Democrats have wrapped up their first full day of arguments at the historic second impeachment trial of Donald Trump. The impeachment trial is set to resume at noon Thursday. Lisa Murkowski and Mitt Romney say they are deeply disturbed by the evidence shown by Democrats against former President Donald Trump at his second impeachment trial. Prosecutors at Trump’s impeachment trial on Wednesday played security footage from inside the Capitol on Jan. 6. ___2:20 p.m.Democrats are arguing that former President Donald Trump “built” the mob that attacked the Capitol.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., won another term as Republican leader, his office said, cementing his role as the longest-serving GOP leader in U.S. history. But it’s still to be determined whether McConnell will retain his role as majority leader or cede it to Schumer as the final races for the U.S. Senate play out. Republicans brushed back Democratic challengers in several states, but failed to lock down the seats needed to retain their majority. The math has become more challenging for McConnell because the vice president of the party holding the White House casts the tie-breaking vote in the Senate. A Democratic majority in the Senate, the party that also controls the House would give the party a firm grasp on power in Washington.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaks with reporters during a press conference in Louisville, Ky., Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020. “We’re waiting — whether I’m going to be the majority leader or not,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Wednesday. There already is a Jan. 5 runoff in the state's other Senate race. Securing the Senate majority will be vital for the winner of the presidency. John Hickenlooper defeated GOP Sen. Cory Gardner, and Arizona, where former astronaut Mark Kelly beat Republican incumbent Martha McSally.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said President Donald Trump’s campaign helped his GOP allies, but that state election officials were still counting ballots. Key Senate races in North Carolina, Alaska and Georgia remained undecided. Democrats contested seats from New England to the Deep South and the Midwest to the Mountain West, reaching deep into GOP strongholds. North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis has struggled against Democrat Cal Cunningham, despite the married challenger’s sexting scandal with a public relations strategist. GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler will face Democrat Raphael Warnock, a Black pastor at the church where the Rev.

The former astronaut defeated Republican Sen. Martha McSally, who was appointed to the seat after McCain’s death in 2018. Daines’ first election in 2014 broke a Democratic lock on the Senate seat that had lasted more than 100 years. The six-term congressman from northern New Mexico defeated Republican Mark Ronchetti, a former television meteorologist, and Libertarian Bob Walsh. Reed cruised to victory over Waters, an investment consultant who mounted earlier unsuccessful campaigns for state Senate and U.S. Senate in Massachusetts. Warner defeated Republican challenger Daniel Gade in a low-key race in which the incumbent had a massive cash advantage.

Republican Senate candidate Sen. Mitch McConnell, second from right, and his wife, Elaine Chao, right, look on as aides show him the election results in Louisville, Ky., Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)WASHINGTON – Hopes fading for Senate control, Democrats had a disappointing election night as Republicans swatted down an onslaught of challengers and fought to retain their fragile majority. Democrats contested seats from New England to the Deep South and the Midwest to the Mountain West, reaching deep into GOP strongholds. The Democrats' gains were in Colorado and Arizona, where former astronaut Mark Kelly beat GOP incumbent Martha McSally. Republican Cynthia Lummis, the former congresswoman from Wyoming, won the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Mike Enzi.

Jones ran an ad showing Tuberville using the phrase to respond to student hecklers after leaving a coaching job. Three years ago, Jones became the first Alabama Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate in a quarter-century. Although he was denied a full term in the Senate, Jones said there was important work to continue. Tuberville’s victory party was held in a hotel ballroom not far from the Alabama Capitol. Jones’ party was at an outside space in Birmingham where most people wore masks.

Republican senators are fighting to save their majority against an onslaught of challengers in states once off limits to Democrats that are now hotbeds of the backlash to President Donald Trump and his allies on Capitol Hill. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)WASHINGTON – Senate Republicans are fighting to save their majority, a final election push against the onslaught of challengers in states once off limits to Democrats but now hotbeds of a potential backlash to President Donald Trump and his allies on Capitol Hill. With it, a reelected Trump could confirm his nominees and ensure a backstop against legislation from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. With the chamber now split, 53-47, three or four seats will determine Senate control, depending on which party wins the White House. Swooping in to fill the gap for Republicans is the Senate Leadership Fund, tapping deep-pocketed donors.

Jones has been on a campaign blitz while Tuberville has adopted a strategy akin to running out the clock. Tuberville has announced fewer public campaign events, concentrated media appearances on conservative talk radio and has refused to debate Jones. Trump is expected to easily carry the state again, meaning Jones would have to win over some Trump voters. There are some discouraging signs for Jones, including that national Democratic groups haven't reported significant spending in Alabama, according to finance reports. But if Jones does win, McCrary said it would cement the possibility that Democrats can win in areas once thought impossible.

Democratic Sen. Doug Jones of Alabama has called Republican challenger Tommy Tuberville Coach Clueless for the former football coach's recent comments about the coronavirus. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Democratic Sen. Doug Jones of Alabama called Republican challenger Tommy Tuberville “Coach Clueless” on Friday, stepping up attacks on the former college football coach for his recent comments about the coronavirus. Tuberville, a former college football coach, told FOX10 said he didn’t see the report. “And Doug Jones should have recognized that simple fact,” Tuberville campaign manager Paul Shashy wrote in an email. You don’t downplay those things that you know put people’s lives and their livelihoods in jeopardy,” Jones said.

Democrats have at least a punchers chance of grabbing Republican-held seats in four states Trump won by double digits: Alaska, Kansas, Kentucky and South Carolina. They argue that Trump's name on the ballot will give Senate candidates in Republican states a major edge and say they're spending there because Democrats are raising sums that can't be ignored. An expensive battle is brewing over Ernst's Iowa seat, with outside Democratic and GOP groups each planning to spend over $20 million. Kelly has a solid chance of defeating GOP Sen. Martha McSally while Harrison is waging an unlikely drive to oust Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close Trump ally. Republicans are eyeing Alaska, where GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan's likely opponent is Al Gross, an independent with Democratic support.

Tuberville has never held public office but cast himself as a better match with Alabama voters in his victory speech. What Doug really means is one liberal Alabama, Tuberville said on election night. I think Tuberville is probably a two touchdown favorite, Mowery said. Although Trump is expected to win Alabama easily, his margin in November might be less than in 2016, McCrary said. ... Its going to be a battle, but we are going to win the war," Alabama Republican Party chair Terry Lathan said.

But Sessions took special care when discussing the matter that dominated and ultimately doomed his comeback attempt. Sessions was the first sitting senator to endorse Trump in the 2016 primary campaign, but even that didnt necessarily mean Trump had the approval of a heavyweight. Sessions, once Alabama attorney general and a U.S. attorney under President Ronald Reagan, had been elected to the Senate in 1996. Yet in Trump, Sessions finally found his vessel. And despite all the brow beating, Sessions said Trump and those issues remain the right path for the GOP and the country.

Sessions faces former Auburn University football Coach Tommy Tuberville in the July 14 Republican runoff. (AP Photo/Kim Chandler)MONTGOMERY, Ala. Seeking to reclaim his old Senate seat from Alabama, former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions faces former college football coach Tommy Tuberville a political newcomer endorsed by President Donald Trump. Trump casts a long shadow over the Alabama race, backing Tuberville after turning decisively against his former Cabinet member. We dont want him back in Washington. Sessions responded quickly: My honor and integrity are far more important than these juvenile insults. He may be endorsing Tommy Tuberville today, but then they can have a falling out, McDade said.

Do not trust Jeff Sessions, Trump tweeted this spring. Do not trust Jeff Sessions, Trump tweeted this spring. He let our Country down.Sessions safely held the Senate seat for 20 years before resigning to lead Trump's Justice Department. Their alliance solidified as Trump adopted the hard-line immigration proposals that Sessions had championed for years in the Senate. Sessions once held the Senate seat so securely he didnt even draw a challenger.