# Sec Def Lloyd Austin "secretly" hospitalized

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sec-def-lloyd-austin-secretly-hospitalized/995719>\
**Category:** Politics & Elections\
**Created:** [January 7, 2024, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sec-def-lloyd-austin-secretly-hospitalized/995719 "2024-01-07T01:29:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 9

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2024, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sec-def-lloyd-austin-secretly-hospitalized/995719/161 "2024-02-29T23:09:16Z")

</div>

> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#):
>
> He got quite the grilling on Capitol Hill: …

Unsurprisingly. It’s not as though Republicans were going to pass by a chance to make a Biden appointee look bad.

I thought Austin comported himself well. For me the big takeaway was the (former, at least) difference between rules for Cabinet secretaries and rules for Presidents as laid out in the Constitution. Rules for Cabinet people aren’t going to become part of the Constitution, but if the consensus is that the rules for both should be similar (or analogous), then that will happen.

Austin’s best lines were about the fact that Congress hasn’t been making one-year budgets for a while, now–and that the security of the nation would be enhanced if they’d actually put in the work of doing a full-year appropriation.

> [@](#):
>
> … LET ME AGAIN THANK YOU FOR OPPORTUNITY TO BE HERE TODAY AND FOR EVERYTHING THAT THIS COMMITTEE DOES TO SUPPORT AND STAND BY THE MISSION AND THE PEOPLE OF DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, INCLUDING THEIR FAMILIES.
> 
> I KNOW YOU UNDERSTAND THIS. BUT ONE OF THE BEST THINGS THAT YOU CAN DO TO SUPPORT THEM IS TO PASS A FULL YEAR APPROPRIATION. IN DOING SO IT WILL ENSURE THAT OUR TROOPS GET PAID AND OUR CIVILIAN EMPLOYEES CAN STAY ON THE JOB AND WE CAN CONTINUE TO PROCURE THE BEST CAPABILITIES OF OUR COUNTRY. WE NEED THE FLEXIBILITY AND STABILITY THAT THE APPROPRIATIONS PROVIDE.

(Full caps in the transcript, unfortunately)

> **[Defense Secretary Austin Opening Statement on Hospitalization and...](https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5108019%2Fdefense-secretary-austin-opening-statement-hospitalization-notification-failures)**
>
> Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin delivers his opening statement at a House Armed Services hearing to examine his recent hospitalization for prostate cancer treatment and his failure to notify President Biden and the Pentagon's chain of command about...

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2024, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sec-def-lloyd-austin-secretly-hospitalized/995719/162 "2024-03-01T16:51:31Z")

</div>

> [@Sherrerd](#):
>
> (Full caps in the transcript, unfortunately)

Although I do like the implication that he was ENUNCIATING VERY CLEARLY for THE IDIOTS IN THE BACK.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2024, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sec-def-lloyd-austin-secretly-hospitalized/995719/163 "2024-03-01T23:13:49Z")

</div>

Okay, that made me laugh out loud.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sec-def-lloyd-austin-secretly-hospitalized/995719.md?page=8)