The White House says President Barack Obama will sign legislation allowing retired Gen. James Mattis to run the Pentagon if Congress passes it before Obama leaves office.
The House is expected to pass a measure Friday relating to President-elect Donald Trump's pick for secretary of defense. The Senate passed it easily on Thursday and it enjoys broad Republican support.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest says Obama wouldn't prevent that legislation from becoming law.
The legislation grants a one-time exception to the law that bars former service members who have been out of uniform for less than seven years from holding the top Pentagon job. The restriction is meant to preserve civilian control of the military.
The legislation grants a one-time exception for Mattis from the law that bars former service members who have been out of uniform for less than seven years from holding the top Pentagon job. The restriction is meant to preserve civilian control of the military. Mattis, 66, retired from the Marine Corps in 2013.
The legislation is separate from a Senate confirmation vote on Mattis.
Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, backed the waiver legislation. He called Mattis a "generational exception" and said many Americans are rightly concerned about how Trump may respond when he is tested by Russia, Iran or North Korea, or faces a cyberattack from an unknown source.
During his 44-year military career, Mattis served in numerous senior military positions, including commander of U.S. Central Command in charge of all American forces in the Middle East.
The law mandating a seven-year rule was last waived for George Marshall in 1950, a former five-star Army general and secretary of state.
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