The Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) is taking a different approach on military funding in its fiscal year 2017 defense authorization bill than its House counterpart.
Instead of designating a portion of Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account for base expenses to necessitate a supplemental once wartime funds run out, SASC opted to keep the budget topline at the same level as the president’s request and will ask for additional money on the Senate floor, committee chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) said on May 12.
Three senators on the 26-person committee voted against the bill, he said.
McCain would not specify whether he would request more base or OCO funding, but increasing the base budget would likely necessitate another agreement between Congress and the White House that could drive other changes in spending.
The House bill, in contrast, sets a $610 billion topline that reserves $18 billion of the $59 billion OCO budget for base expenses. The remaining OCO funds will allow the services to continue operations at the current pace until April, House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) has said. Past then, the next president will have to ask for additional money if he or she wants to extend operations.
Earlier this week, the House appropriations defense subcommittee released their own spending bill, which followed HASC’s lead and designates about $16 billion in OCO for base expenses.
McCain offered few details on the SASC bill, which at press time had not been released. He promised a “whole array” of Goldwater-Nichols style changes to the Pentagon’s organizational structure.
Unlike the HASC bill, which bumped up the number of RD-180 rocket engines that United Launch Alliance is authorized to use for military launches from nine to 18, SASC opted to leave that number at nine, likely due to McCain’s fervent opposition to buying additional Russian engines. ULA is a joint venture of Boeing [BA] and Lockheed Martin [LMT].
The Northrop Grumman [NOC] B-21 bomber program, which McCain has hammered due to its cost-plus contracting structure and classified contract value, also will be addressed on the Senate floor, he said.
The bill, like the House NDAA, would require women to register for the selective service.
SASC members began marking up its version of the National Defense Authorization Act on Wednesday in a closed door session and wrapped up their markup Thursday afternoon.
The House is set to debate its version of the NDAA next week.