WASHINGTON - President-elect Joe Biden's nomination of retired Army Gen. Lloyd Austin to be secretary of defense has put some Senate Democrats in a bind.
In the past, they've opposed naming recently retired military officers to the post, yet they don't want to be seen as blocking the first African American to lead the Pentagon.Congress waived a law blocking the appointment of such officers in confirming President Donald Trump's choice for the post, retired U.S.
Marine Gen. Jim Mattis, in 2017. But that came over the objections of some Democrats, who may now have to reverse themselves to back Austin, who served 41 years in the Army and retired in 2016.Sticking to their past stand will mean defying a president from their own party just as he.