After what was beginning to look like a tough vote for House Leadership, the House today passed the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The bill authorizes military operations globally, sets defense policy, and offers a $612 billion spending blueprint for appropriators. Typically, the NDAA easily passes though the House with a wide margin of bipartisan support. The vote was 269-151.
After passing nearly unanimously from the House Armed Services Committee, both the White House and House Democrats came out against the FY16 NDAA earlier this Wednesday. Late Thursday, a group of House Republicans immigration hard-liners worked to strip out language that encouraged the Pentagon to allow DREAMers (those children who were brought to the US illegally at a young age by their parents and have been living here for almost their whole lives) to serve in the military.
Over in the Senate, Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Jack Reed (D-I), announced details of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s markup of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (NDAA). The committee on Thursday voted, 22-4, to report the bill, which authorizes $612 billion funding for the Department of Defense and the national security programs of the Department of Energy.
- The bill authorizes $400.0 million for a technology offsets initiative to build and maintain the military technological superiority of the United States by spurring research and innovation in six high-profile technology areas to counter advantages being gained by adversaries. This includes $200.0 million for directed energy.
- It authorizes science and technology programs of the Department of Defense at $12.4 billion.
- Funding is increased by $140.0 million for basic research across all the services.
- The bill cutes funding for various research and development programs by $120.0 million to eliminate inefficiencies, reduce redundancies, and terminate outdated efforts.
- The bill authorizes a program to enhance the defense laboratories with innovative academic and industry partners in research and development activities to enable more effective transfers of lab-generated innovations to small business and other industry partners to promote their transition into military systems or commercial technologies.
- The measure mandates the establishment of activities for major information technology acquisition programs to increase oversight and reduce technical risk and overall costs.
- It would reauthorize the Rapid Innovation Program to accelerate the fielding and transitioning of innovative technologies.