DEFENSE/GOP/JOHN MCCAIN/SENATE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “U.S. Senator John McCain’s death will likely shift leadership of the Senate Armed Services Committee from one of President Donald Trump’s most vocal Republican critics to one of his biggest supporters, which observers say could mean fewer checks on the Pentagon. No decision has been announced since McCain’s death on Saturday [8-25-18], but the committee’s number two Republican, Senator James Inhofe, who chaired meetings and hearings in McCain’s absence, is expected to be made chairman in the coming weeks. Inhofe, 83, represents Oklahoma, where Trump won more than 65 percent of the vote in 2016. He is seen as a more traditional Senate conservative less likely to confront a Republican president than McCain, who could be a harsh critic of his fellow Republicans as well as Democrats. The change could have major implications for the panel, which sets policy for more than $700 billion in annual Pentagon spending, reviews nominees for a wide range of military positions and, under McCain, acted as a watchdog that sought to rein in what McCain saw as wasteful Defense Department spending.”
–Patricia Zengerle, “Trump backer Inhofe in line to chair powerful Senate Armed Services panel,” Reuters, August 27, 2018 1:45 pm