The U.S. Senate approved Maj. Gen. John L. Rafferty, Jr.’s appointment as commanding general of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command and his promotion to lieutenant general.
Rafferty has over 33 years of leadership and technical experience, especially in field artillery operations and command and staff roles. He is currently the chief of staff at U.S. European Command in Germany.
Rafferty has held a number of noteworthy positions in recent years, including commander of the 18th Field Artillery Brigade, Fort Bragg, North Carolina; chief of Army Public Affairs, Washington, D.C.; director of the Long Range Precision Fires Cross Functional Team, Fort Sill, Oklahoma; executive officer to the director of the Army Staff, Washington, D.C.; and commanding general of the 56th Artillery Command, U.S. Army Europe-Africa, Germany.
He has supported several initiatives, including Spartan Shield, Inherent Resolve, Iraqi Freedom, and Operations Enduring Freedom.
Rafferty will take over for Lt. Gen. Sean A. Gainey, who is leaving the military after more than 35 years of service.
Nearly 100 of President Trump’s nominees were recently confirmed by Senate Republicans, surpassing both his first term and previous administrations.
97 of Trump’s nominations were approved by a 53–43 vote on Thursday, which was part of the Senate’s last floor action following a hectic period spearheaded by Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., after Republicans took control of the chamber in January.
According to Fox News, Republicans overcame internal conflicts to pass the president’s signature “one big, beautiful bill” and reopen the government after the longest shutdown in American history.
However, Senate rules frequently made it nearly impossible to confirm Trump’s nominees because Democrats raised general objections to even the lowest-level positions in the government.
Republicans started the year confirming Trump’s Cabinet at a rapid pace, but they encountered what he called “unprecedented obstruction from the Democratic minority,” according to Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, a Republican from Wyoming.
“We began the year by confirming President Trump’s Cabinet faster than any Senate in modern history,” Barrasso told Fox News. Additionally, the Senate will confirm 417 of President Trump’s nominations by the end of this week. Compared to Joe Biden’s 365 during his first year in office, that is significantly more.
Republicans responded by lowering the vote requirement for confirming sub-Cabinet nominees in September by using the nuclear option. Since then, 417 of Trump’s nominations have been approved by the Senate.
“Democrats cannot deal with the fact that the American people elected President Trump, and so they’ve engaged in this pointless political obstruction in revenge,” Thune said, accusing Senate Democrats, led by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., of engaging in “nothing more than petty politics” by obstructing standard fast-track procedures like voice votes and unanimous consent, which are typically used to advance low-level presidential nominations.
Senate Republicans have almost completely cleared a backlog of nominations that grew to nearly 150 pending choices over the summer with the most recent round of confirmations. There are now only 15 nominees left.
Among those confirmed are former Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, R-N.Y., who was chosen to be the Department of Labor’s inspector general; two nominees to the National Labor Relations Board, James Murphy and Scott Mayer; and dozens of others from almost every federal agency.
Before the end of the week, senators are also anticipated to discuss Joshua Simmons, Trump’s choice for CIA special counsel.
A massive spending package that combines five appropriations bills is being worked on by senators at the same time. However, some Democrats are opposing the so-called minibus, raising questions about whether it will be able to make it to the floor before the end of the month.
Republicans and Democrats have been engaged in ongoing negotiations. According to Fox, Thune stated as he entered the Senate chamber that clearing the nominee package was the top priority. “We’ll see where it goes from there,” Thune said.
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