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Category: Defense

House Pushes “Pause” on Syria Refugees

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The House voted overwhelmingly Thursday to slap stringent — and difficult to implement — new screening procedures on refugees from Syria seeking resettlement, seizing on the fear stemming from the Paris attacks.

The bill passed by a vote of 289 to 137 with nearly 50 Democrats in support even after Administration officials implored congressional Democrats to vote down the bill. The measure would require that the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and the Director of National Intelligence confirm that each applicant from Syria and Iraq poses no threat. The White House has declared the requirements “untenable.”

The White House has threatened to veto the measure should it pass the Senate and be sent to the President for signature.

NDAA Passes in the House

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Today the House voted 370-58 to pass the revised fiscal 2016 defense authorization measure (S 1356) under suspension of the rules, an expedited process that requires a two-thirds majority for passage. A vote to override the president’s veto was slated for Thursday, but scrapped in favor of the new bill after House and Senate negotiators worked out a series of cuts to conform to a revised defense budget top line.

Obama vetoed the initial defense authorization bill (HR 1735), citing the inclusion of $38 billion in extra Overseas Contingency Operations funds to sidestep discretionary spending caps. A two-year budget agreement (HR 1314), signed by the president Monday, raised defense and non-defense spending caps by $25 billion each in fiscal 2016. The agreement also includes an extra $8 billion this year for defense spending through OCO.

The policy provisions of the new measure are unchanged but the bill reflects $5 billion in cuts to programs to conform to the two-year budget agreement, which came up short of the president’s request, and the original NDAA topline of $612 billion.

Senate Passes NDAA, but FY16 Defense Funding Stalls

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The Senate passed the unusually contentious FY16 NDAA, by a vote of 71-25, today. The Senate had planned to move ahead to tackling Defense Appropriations on the Floor, but the measure failed to receive 60 votes needed to invoke cloture and proceed.  As a reminder, the President has issued a veto threat on the bill and Senate Democrats have promised to block any appropriations bills that rely on the current spending plan. The FY16 appropriations cycle was left in limbo after Senate Democrats appeared to have succeeded in torpedoing a procedural vote that would have allowed debate to begin on the FY16 Defense appropriations bill. Democrats in Congress and the White House are opposed to the underlying spending framework.

The full Senate Appropriations Committee marked up the Defense bill on June 11, and here is the press release.

In the bill:

  • RDT&E: $70.325 billion, which is $539.7 million above the President’s FY16 request
  • Basic Research: $2.317 billion, which is $228.5 million over the FY16 request, and a $39.341 million over FY15 enacted.

The report included this language: “The Committee believes that further investment in basic research must continue.  Basic research is the foundation of innovative breakthroughs that are critical to maintaining the Nation’s future technological edge.  Investments in basic research not only provide advances in technology for our military men and women, but also provide an important incubator for national labs and academic research institutions.  These investments also encourage partnerships and collaboration with industry.  In order to keep pace with the global challenges to come, the Committee believes that additional funding should be allocated to Federal research.”

  • Applied Research: $4.928 billion, which is  $215 million over the FY 16 request and $280.3 million over FY 15 enacted.
  • Advanced Technology Development: $5.577 billion, which is $113.6 million above the FY 16 request and $251.5 million over FY 15 enacted.
  • DARPA: $2.865 billion, which is $107.1 million below the FY 16 request and $50.4 million below FY 15 enacted.

White House Signals Concerns with FY16 House’s Financial Services and Senate’s Defense Funding Bills

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Continuing its theme, the White House, though the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Shaun Donovan, signaled concerns with two more Congressional appropriations bills. Donovan wrote the House Appropriators about the FY16 Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill and Senate Appropriators about the FY16 Defense appropriations bill.

The White House warned that the House’s FY16 Financial Services spending bill, scheduled to be marked up today, would jeopardize the independence of financial regulators, cost billions of dollars in lost tax revenue and hinder implementation of the 2010 health care overhaul.

Similar to previous warnings about the House and Senate NDAA bills and the House’s FY16 Defense spending bill,  Donovan warned that, “The president’s senior advisers would recommend he veto any legislation that implements the current Republican budget framework.” According to the OMB, the Senate’s legislation would implement a “gimmick” by shifting money to war accounts, the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funding,  from core budget lines. He also criticized the Senate Appropriations measure’s proposal for “unnecessary” funding of a National Guard and Reserve Component Equipment Account. ​

The White House and Congressional Democrats have been very vocal on a need for Congress to collectively come to the table and cut another deal, similar to the one Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) cut in 2013 in 2013 (Murray-Ryan), to avoid the cuts as required by the Budget Control Act of 2011(sequester). The House is crafting all bills, legislative and appropriations, under the financial caps and resrtaints set by the Budget Control Act, which was binding until 2021.

Read the the letter to House Appropriators about the House’s FY16 Financial Services bill here. 

Read the letter to Senate Appropriators about the Senate’s FY16 Defense bill here. 

House Passes FY16 Defense Appropriations Bill

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Today, the House  approved the $578.6 billion FY15 Defense appropriations bill despite Democratic objections, both from the House and White House, to using the war accounts, known as the Overseas Contingency Operations fund, to bridge the gap between stringent BCA budget caps and the Pentagon’s spending request. The measure totals $800 million above the Administration’s request, thanks to the additional war funds.

The largely party line vote of 278 to 149 on the typically bipartisan measure (HR 2685) underscores the divide over the use of the Overseas Contingency Operations fund.

In addition, AAU has issued a statement against the measure due to the proposed cuts in basic research.