Maj. Gen. John L. Rafferty, Jr., was confirmed by the U.S. Senate for promotion to the rank of lieutenant general and for assignment as the commanding general of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command.
Rafferty, currently the chief of staff at U.S. European Command in Germany, possesses over 33 years of leadership and technical expertise, particularly in field artillery operations and command and staff roles.
Rafferty’s notable recent positions encompass commanding general of the 56th Artillery Command, U.S. Army Europe-Africa, Germany; 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 commander of the 18th Field Artillery Brigade, Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
He has provided support for Operations Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, Spartan Shield, Inherent Resolve, and others.
Rafferty is succeeding Lt. Gen. Sean A. Gainey, who is retiring after over 35 years of military service.
Recently, Senate Republicans confirmed nearly 100 of President Trump’s nominees, outpacing previous administrations and even his own first term.
A 53–43 vote Thursday approved 97 of Trump’s picks, marking some of the final floor action in the Senate after a frenetic stretch driven by Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., once Republicans took control of the chamber in January.
Along the way, Republicans navigated internal divisions to pass the president’s signature “one big, beautiful bill” and reopened the government following the longest shutdown in U.S. history, Fox News reported.
Confirming Trump’s nominees, however, often proved nearly impossible under Senate rules, as Democrats imposed blanket objections to even the lowest-level positions across the government.
Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said Republicans began the year confirming Trump’s Cabinet at a breakneck pace, only to run headlong into what he described as “unprecedented obstruction from the Democratic minority.”
“We began the year by confirming President Trump’s Cabinet faster than any Senate in modern history,” Barrasso said per Fox. “And by week’s end, President Trump will have 417 nominees confirmed by the Senate this year. That’s far more than the 365 that Joe Biden had in his first year in office.”
In response, Republicans invoked the nuclear option in September, lowering the vote threshold for confirming sub-Cabinet nominees. Since then, the Senate has approved 417 of Trump’s picks.
Thune accused Senate Democrats, led by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., of engaging in “nothing more than petty politics” by blocking routine fast-track procedures — such as voice votes and unanimous consent — typically used to advance low-level presidential nominations, Fox added.
“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.
With the latest round of confirmations, Senate Republicans have nearly eliminated a nominations backlog that swelled to almost 150 pending picks over the summer. Just 15 nominees now remain.
Those confirmed include former Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, R-N.Y., selected to serve as inspector general at the Department of Labor, as well as James Murphy and Scott Mayer, two nominees to the National Labor Relations Board, among dozens of others spanning nearly every federal agency. Senators are also expected to consider Joshua Simmons, Trump’s pick for CIA special counsel, before the night ends.
At the same time, senators are working to advance a sprawling spending package that bundles five appropriations bills. Some Democrats, however, are objecting to the so-called minibus, casting doubt on whether it can reach the floor before lawmakers depart Washington.
Negotiations between Republicans and Democrats continued Thursday night, with Thune saying as he entered the Senate chamber that the immediate priority was to at least clear the nominees package first, Fox reported.
“We’ll see where it goes from there,” Thune said, per Fox.
