The fiscal year 2016 defense authorization bill has been passed, vetoed, modified, and now–after being passed by the Senate on Tuesday morning–it will once again head to President Barack Obama’s desk, where it will likely be signed into law.
Besides authorizing $599 billion in funding, the bill also contains reforms to the weapons buying process and to the military retirement system. That sum, together with other parts of the budget, makes up a total $607 billion for national defense.
The Senate’s 90-3 vote in favor of the National Defense Authorization Act today follows the House, which passed the bill by a 370-58 margin last week. The three senators who opposed the bill are: presidential candidate Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.).
The overwhelming bipartisan support for the NDAA comes after months in which Republicans and Democrats duked it out over how to fund the military. The GOP plan was to boost the Overseas Contingency Operations account–which goes toward wartime expenses–to fund operations and maintenance items usually in the base budget, which is subject to spending caps. Democrats argued they would not allow increases for defense without equal ones for non-defense discretionary spending, and Obama made good on those threats by vetoing the bill after it was initially passed in October.
After the president and congressional leaders settled on an agreement to lift the caps for the next two years, the defense committees slashed $5 billion from its original NDAA to bring it in line with the $607 billion amount spelled out for defense in the Bipartisan Budget Agreement (Defense Daily, Nov. 3). The cuts hit the Air Force’s new bomber and DDG-51 destroyer programs, among others, but all reform provisions remained the same.
After the vote, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said he expected that Obama would sign the bill despite his opposition to restrictions on closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) said this year’s NDAA is the beginning of an effort to update Pentagon spending practices to meet the current threat environment. The last time Congress passed such sweeping acquisition reform was the Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986, which reorganized the Defense Department’s chain of command.
“Could we have done more? Yes,” he said on the Senate floor. “But I would argue that this is the most significant reform legislation in the last 30 years.”
Immediately after passing the NDAA, the Senate unanimously passed the military construction and veterans affairs appropriations bill in a 93-0 vote.
“I am pleased that the Senate, for the first time in more than four years, has debated, amended and passed an individual appropriations bill,” said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran (R-Miss.). “Passing appropriations bills is a fundamental congressional responsibility and the best way to both oversee the performance of the federal government and ensure that we are responsibly addressing public needs.”
However, Senate Democrats urged Republicans to focus on passing an omnibus spending bill rather than individual spending bills.
“We can’t be sidetracked by foolishness,” said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). “We had all summer long to do every appropriations bill.”
Congress has about three weeks to pass either an omnibus bill or the remaining 11 appropriations bills. The continuing resolution currently funding government expires on Dec. 11.