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Category: Defense

House Passes NDAA, SASC Releases Senate NDAA

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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.

Highlights include:

 

  • 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research and development programs by $120.0 million to eliminate inefficiencies, reduce redundancies, and terminate outdated efforts.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.

 

 

 

Mêlée for NDAA

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Both the White House and chief Democrat of the the House Armed Services Committee, Adam Smith (D-WA) have both expressed a lack of support for the FY16 NDAA measure, which is expected to be considered today on the House Floor. The White House issued an Statement of Administrative Policy in which it issued a veto threat.  In part the administration objects to the accounting devices  used by the Armed Services committee, as advocated in the House and Senate budgets, to avoid the Sequester budget caps.

The Administration strongly objects to the bill’s authorization of sequester level appropriations for items that were requested in and belong in the base budget, and use of OCO [Over Seas Contingency Fund]– a funding mechanism intended to pay for wars and not subject to the budget caps – to pay for $38 billion in base requirements.  Sequestration adds risk to our national security by threatening the size, readiness, presence, and capability of our military, and threatens the economic security on which our national security depends.  The Committee clearly recognizes that the President’s Budget level for defense is needed, but authorizes it in a way that fails to acknowledge the need to reverse sequestration for both defense and non-defense spending.

Similarly, Congressman Smith has issued a statement against the measure, which he helped write and voted for in committee. Specifically, Smith said he objected to use of the supplemental OCO war fund to shield the Pentagon from strict spending caps while leaving other federal agencies subject to the caps.

House Democratic leaders are whipping Members to vote against HR 1735, the NDAA. In addition, the White House is threatening to veto the measure in large part because of the use of OCO funds to allow the Pentagon to evade the spending caps put in place under the Budget Control Act of 2011.

The move is seen as one to pressure Republican House and Senate leadership into repealing the Sequester in its entirety.

Nearly 350 Amendments were offered to the NDAA, and the House Rules Committee will meet today at 3 pm to determine which amendments will be considered on the House Floor.

To follow the bill on the House Floor and the progress of the various amendments, the House Armed Services Committee has created this handy tracker.

NDAA PATRIOT Act Combo with an Abortion Chaser

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Today, the House will vote on the rule to consider the NDAA. In a development, the Rules committee decided to combine the NDAA with two other pieces of legislation, namely HR 2048, the USA FREEDOM Act of 2015 and HR 36, the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.

HR  2048, the USA FREEDOM Act is a bipartisan measure that extends certain provisions of the Patriot Act that are scheduled to expire at the beginning of June.  Additionally, the measure modifies domestic surveillance authorities by prohibiting the National Security Agency’s (NSA) bulk collection and storage of telephone metadata and ability to collect other bulk data, requiring the NSA to obtain approval from the FISA court to examine the calling records of individual target telephone numbers on a case-by-case basis (before requesting the information from a phone company) and limiting the associated calling records of a telephone number that may be examined to two “hops” from the suspect’s number. No amendments will be considered on the measure including an amendment  once again offered to change the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and require a warrant to access stored emails, along with a handful of other anti-surveillance amendments from privacy minded lawmakers trying to beef up protections in the legislation.

While, HR 2048 is bipartisan, HR 36, the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act is not.  The bill bans abortions in cases where the probable age of the fetus is 20 weeks or later and imposes criminal penalties on doctors who violate the ban. It provides exceptions in cases where the life of the woman is in danger, or in cases of rape or incest.

Originally, the measure was slated for House consideration in January but was pulled because of Conservative Republican women legislator’s objections over language requiring rape victims to report the crime to qualify for the exception. GOP leaders this week are putting forward a significantly modified version which drops the rape reporting requirement, and instead requires women to receive counseling or medical treatment for the rape at least 48 hours prior to the abortion procedure and to sign (along with the doctor and a witness) an informed consent form, and requires that a second doctor trained in neonatal resuscitation be present for abortions where the fetus has the “potential” to survive outside the womb, and if born alive requires that the infant be admitted to a hospital. The bill does still include similar reporting requirements for abortions for pregnancies resulting from incest.

A one technical amendment will be considered.

Democrats are expected to rally against the bill. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has promised his chamber will vote on the measure as well.

A vote on the rule to consider the NDAA will be a vote to consider HR 2048 and HR 36 as well.

While the White House has made clear its support of the surveillance bill, it has issued a veto threat for the abortion bill.

 

House Gets Ready to Consider COMPETES and NDAA

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The House Rules Committee will meet at 3pm on Wednesday to considered movement forward for both HR 1735, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2016 and HR 1806, the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2015.

Today, the House Rules Committee will meet to consider the overall rule for the NDAA, and subsequent to that will determine which amendments will be considered on the House Floor. Over 300 amendments have been filed, and the full list is here.

When the House Rules Committee meets on Wednesday the will also consider the rule for COMPETES and what amendments will be considered on the House Floor. Over 40 amendments have been filed, and the full list of all the amendments is here.

The House is expected to consider the NDAA this week and COMPETES next week.

HASC Passes NDAA

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The House Armed Services Committee once again got its annual National Defense Authorization Act over the finish line this morning. Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) gaveled down at 4:39 a.m. after the panel voted 60-2 to approve the bill and 18 hours after the markup started. Over the course of the session, the panel considered roughly seven dozen amendments – not including those rolled into en bloc packages – with a host of spirited and often lengthy debates.

Overall the NDAA would authorize $495.9 billion in base Pentagon spending, and $611.8 billion in all when the Overseas Contingency Operations budget, Energy Department and mandatory spending are added. The bill is expected to be considered on floor when the House returns the week of May 11, the same week the Senate Armed Services panel will mark up its defense policy measure.