Based in Washington, Jen manages Aviation Week’s worldwide defense, space and security coverage.
Prior to taking on her current role, Jen was Aviation Week's Congressional Editor. Jen came to Aviation Week in March 2011 from Politico, where she covered the intersection of defense and politics. She also worked as a reporter and editor for Defense Daily, Inside the Army, The Other Paper and The Columbus Dispatch.
Jen received a Master’s degree in journalism as a Kiplinger Fellow at the Ohio State University. She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in history and journalism from the University of Michigan.
Can Congress be publicly shamed into avoiding a 10-year, $1 trillion across-the-board government spending cut before January? Not likely. But two widely respected former leaders of the Pentagon are the latest to make the attempt. Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Michael Mullen, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reminded the nation’s political leaders that failing to address the nation’s fiscal situation will harm the country’s security during speeches to the Center for Strategic and International Studies Sept. 17.
If Congress fails to block a looming government-wide budget cut, the Pentagon will lose $54.7 billion and NASA about $1.7 billion, the White House Office of Management and Budget said in a report delivered to Congress Sept. 14. The cuts amount to a 9.4% cut to defense accounts and an 8.2% cut to other domestic discretionary programs, including NASA. The penalty known as sequestration was put in place last year by a bill designed to spur lawmakers to reduce the federal deficit by $1.2 trillion.
At least one U.S. senator has placed a hold on a bill that would prohibit U.S. operators from participating in the EU’s emissions trading system (ETS), preventing a vote on the contentious issue. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va) says the committee provided “broad support” for the bill. Still, “a couple of people don’t like it,” Rockefeller tells Aviation Week. “One of them might be holding it up.”
