“I have a solemn duty in Congress to conduct oversight of the Defense Department through my service on the House Armed Services Committee,” Deluzio said. “That duty today requires me to call on Secretary Austin to resign.”
Austin, 70, has drawn criticism for failing to disclose to the White House and Congress for days his need for emergency hospitalization on Jan. 1. That day, he was taken to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland by ambulance while in “severe pain” with undisclosed complications from a Dec. 22 medical procedure.
The White House, Congress and the public found out about Austin’s emergency hospitalization late last week. Both Republicans and Democrats have said Austin needs to be held accountable for the lack of transparency.
On Tuesday, the Pentagon revealed that Austin had surgery last month after a prostate cancer diagnosis — the first time the department detailed what condition led to the medical complications and lengthy hospitalization. A statement attributed to John Maddox and Gregory Chesnut, doctors at Walter Reed, said the retired Army general was diagnosed with cancer in December after routine screening and underwent a “minimally invasive surgical procedure” known as a prostatectomy, in which all or part of the organ is removed, while under general anesthesia.
As with his hospitalization, Austin withheld the existence of his cancer diagnosis from Biden and other key administration officials, the White House acknowledged.
While Deluzio is the first Democrat to call for Austin to step down, Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) announced plans to introduce articles of impeachment against the defense secretary. And Sen. Roger Wicker (Miss.), the Senate Armed Services Committee’s top Republican, issued a statement after the Pentagon’s Tuesday announcement saying that “there must be accountability.”
The White House, meanwhile, has said Biden retains confidence in Austin and has no plans to replace him.
“There is no plans for anything other than Secretary Austin to stay in the job and continuing the leadership that he’s been demonstrating,” John Kirby, a spokesman for the White House’s National Security Council, told reporters on Monday.
Dan Lamothe and Missy Ryan contributed to this report.