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.
Republicans on Capitol Hill are using a congressionally inflicted penalty to drive a wedge between the White House and Pentagon. In August, Congress OK’d the Budget Control Act, which stipulated that lawmakers had to agree how to direct $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction. Without such an agreement, a penalty known as sequester involving $1.2 trillion in cuts to discretionary spending – including $600 billion for security spending – would fall on government agencies starting on Jan. 2, 2013.
A labor issue that has held up progress on the FAA reauthorization bill could soon be resolved. The House version of the FAA bill contains a contentious provision that would overturn a rule of the National Mediation Board (NMB) to make it more difficult for airline workers to unionize. Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), chairman of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee plans to introduce legislation that would change the NMB rule in a different way, so that unions could be dissolved just as easily as they are created.
A Texas senator’s effort to force the Obama administration to sell F-16 fighter jets to Taiwan is fading. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) sought to add an amendment to the defense authorization bill for fiscal 2012 mandating the sale of at least 66 F-16s to the island nation. But a vote on the bill is expected Dec. 1, with time for the amendment’s consideration dwindling. Even his office acknowledged that at this point, the chances are unlikely.
