- “I have lost confidence in Secretary Lloyd Austin’s leadership of the Department of Defense due to the lack of transparency regarding his recent medical treatment.”
- Deluzio, a 39-year-old former Navy officer, is deputy whip of the Congressional Progressive Caucus
Pennsylvania Rep. Chris Deluzio on Wednesday became the first Democratic voice in Congress to call for Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin is forced to resign, joining a sea of Republican voices outraged by the Pentagon chief’s secret hospitalization.
“I have lost confidence in Secretary Lloyd Austin’s leadership of the Department of Defense due to the lack of transparency regarding his recent medical treatment and its impact on the continuity of the chain of command,” Deluzio wrote on X.
“I have a solemn duty in Congress to provide oversight of the Department of Defense through my service on the House Armed Services Committee. That duty requires that today I call on Secretary Austin to resign.”
Deluzio, a 39-year-old former Navy officer, is deputy whip of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and also serves on the Armed Services and Veterans’ Affairs Committees.
Austin has endured a barrage of criticism from both Republicans and Democrats for not disclosing that he was in the hospital while the country dealt with national security situations in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Austin was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on December 22 after a “consultation with his medical team” for a diagnosis of prostate cancer.
He then underwent a “minimally invasive surgical procedure called a prostatectomy to treat and cure prostate cancer,” according to a statement from the hospital. His cancer was “diagnosed early and his prognosis is excellent,” the statement said.
But on January 1, he suffered complications that required an ambulance to take him back to the hospital. His complications included “nausea with severe abdominal, leg and hip pain.”
The early diagnosis was a urinary tract infection, but further testing revealed that 70-year-old Austin had a fluid buildup in his abdomen that was impairing the function of his small intestine.
The infection was treated with a tube placed through his nose and down to his stomach. Things have cleared, the statement said, and Austin “continues to make progress.” He “never lost consciousness or underwent general anesthesia,” the statement said, although Austin did undergo anesthesia for the Dec. 22 surgery.
Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks was given Austin’s powers at the time, but did not explain the reason.
President Joe Biden was only told on Tuesday that Austin had cancer.
Pentagon officials also did not tell the White House for four days that Austin had returned to the hospital on January 1 after experiencing severe pain. He was taken there by ambulance.
A Pentagon official blamed the communications outage on “an error due to people not being in the office.” Chief of Staff Kelly Magsamen of Austin had the flu and public affairs chief Chris Meagher was at doctor’s appointments with his pregnant wife, who gave birth to their first child on Friday.