|
House Armed Services Committee Advances $886B NDAA
Early morning Thursday, the House Armed Services Committee, by a vote of 58-1, adopted the fiscal year 2024 defense authorization bill. The bill would authorize $886 billion for national defense in keeping with the debt limit deal struck by President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
House lawmakers plan to add an amphibious transport dock to the Navy's shipbuilding plan and prevent the decommissioning of three amphibious warships and two cruisers in fiscal year 2024.
The House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee’s draft mark of the FY-24 defense policy bill adds a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock to the procurement budget, fulfilling the Marine Corps’ top unfunded priority.
The mark supports the other eight battleforce ships included in the Navy’s FY-24 budget request, while preventing the retirement of five of the eight ships up for decommissioning -- Whidbey Island-class dock landing ships Germantown (LSD-42), Gunston Hall (LSD-44) and Tortuga (LSD-46) as well as Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruisers Shiloh (CG-67) and Cowpens (CG-63).
The Navy’s request, which proposed decommissioning three aging amphibious warships while excluding new amphibious vessels from its shipbuilding proposal, received criticism from lawmakers and Marine Corps leadership who noted the plan would shrink the fleet of L-class ships below the legal minimum of 31 vessels.
The draft legislation would also prevent the Navy from reducing the operational status of its expeditionary fast transport vessels and mandate the development of a new operating strategy for EPF use in U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s area of responsibility.
The committee considered more than 800 amendments and adopted 4 en Bloc packaged of amendments, which included the amendments SCA supported to address the recapitalization of the nation’s sealift fleet. A full list of relevant amendments can be found HERE. If you’d like to review any of the text of these amendments, please let me know and we’ll send them over. A full SCA summary of the bill will be released following the committee report.
The bill is expected to be considered on the House floor in early July.
House Appropriations Committee Considers Defense Spending Bill
House appropriators voted on Thursday to advance a defense spending bill that excludes funding for amphibious warship procurement and looks to save two Littoral Combat Ships from decommissioning in fiscal year 2024 -- marking a significant departure from the draft legislation produced by the House Armed Services Committee.
In total, House appropriators advanced a plan to provide the Navy with $32.9 billion for shipbuilding -- about $58 million more than the service requested -- including one Columbia-class submarine, two Virginia-class submarines, two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, two Constellation-class frigates, one John Lewis-class oiler and one submarine tender replacement.
Appropriators would also provide $400 million for four ship-to-shore connectors although the Navy did not seek funding for any more of the vessels in FY-24.
The House authorization and appropriations bills also differ when it comes to ship decommissioning, with appropriators aiming to save two Littoral Combat Ships and two Whidbey Island-class dock landing ships from the Navy’s chopping block, while authorizers seek to protect two cruisers and all three of the amphibious vessels up for retirement.
The House Appropriations Committee approved the $826.45 billion for defense spending in the fiscal year starting Oct. 1, staying within spending caps negotiated in the debt ceiling agreement as the Republican-led committee incorporated conservative stances on social issues.
The bill was approved, 34 to 24 along party lines yesterday after contentious debate over the inclusion of language on abortion and diversity. It would prohibit federal employees and their dependents from using any funds indirectly related to obtaining an abortion.
The legislation’s new discretionary spending would be $286 million more than the Biden White House’s request, and $28.7 billion—or 3.6%—more than enacted for this year, staying within the debt limit deal signed earlier this month. The Democratic-led Senate Appropriations Committee has yet to act on its version of the spending bill, which would provide $823 billion.
The draft committee report can be found HERE. The SCA summary of the bill can be found HERE.
House Appropriators Advance Homeland Security Spending Bill
House Republicans approved their Homeland Security spending bill, which includes funding for the Coast Guard, in full committee on Wednesday, voting 33-25 in support of $63 billion in discretionary funding for fiscal 2024, a 3 percent increase.
Under the measure, the Coast Guard would receive $1.5 billion for vessels. A full SCA summary of the bill can be found HERE. A Republican committee summary of the bill is here. The bill text is HERE and the report language can be found HERE.
Now that the Appropriations Committee has approved the measure, House Republican leaders plan to attempt to bring the spending bill to the floor this summer, along with the other 11 measures to fund the government for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.
Senate Armed Services Committee Approves FY24 NDAA
Defense policy legislation approved Thursday by the Senate Armed Services Committee forces the Navy to buy a new amphibious warship that it didn’t seek in its budget, but that the Marine Corps publicly campaigned to purchase.
The upper chamber’s version of the fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act also requires the Pentagon to outline the legality and other details of its abortion travel policy. The move comes amid a standoff over the policy that has frozen senior military promotions in the Senate.
The NDAA was approved 24-1 on Thursday during the panel’s closed-door deliberations. An executive summary of the bill was released Friday and can be read HERE.
Senate Armed Services Committee Advances Marine Corps Commandant Nominee
The Senate Armed Services Committee advanced President Joe Biden's pick to lead the Marine Corps as concerns mount that a blockage of military promotions could leave the service without a confirmed top officer.
The panel's approval of Gen. Eric Smith, a vote that the committee said came on Wednesday, puts pressure on the full Senate to confirm him before Commandant Gen. David Berger finishes his term in early July.
No promotions for generals and admirals have cleared the Senate in months, as Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-A:) has held up more than 250 senior nominees in a bid to overturn Pentagon policies that ease troops' access to abortion.
Tuberville's blockade will soon impact the Joint Chiefs as several top officers retire. First up is the Marine Corps, where Berger's last day by law is July 10.
Senate Adopts Funding Totals for FY24 Spending Bills
Senate appropriators approved funding totals for a dozen fiscal 2024 spending bills along party lines on Thursday, while acknowledging the need for reaching an agreement on more money in the coming months.
The full panel approved the totals in a 15-13 vote, kicking off the committee’s first markup in two years, the first markup with two women at the helm and the first-ever televised markup for the panel.
The Committee approved the following funding totals:
- Agriculture-FDA: $25.9 billion
- Commerce-Justice-Science: $69.6 billion
- Defense: $823.3 billion
- Energy-Water: $56.7 billion
- Financial Services: $16.8 billion
- Homeland Security: $56.9 billion
- Interior-Environment: $37.9 billion
- Labor-HHS-Education: $195.2 billion
- Legislative Branch: $6.8 billion
- Military Construction-VA: $154.4 billion
- State-Foreign Operations: $58.4 billion
- Transportation-HUD: $88.1 billion
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and other Republicans voted against the measure citing the inadequate funding levels for Defense and Homeland Security.
Senate appropriators are marking up to the budget levels included in the $1.59 trillion debt deal. House Republicans, meanwhile, want to fund the government $119 billion below the deal's totals, while simultaneously rescinding $115 billion in recent spending.
Both chambers will have major differences to resolve in order to fund the government for the fiscal year that begins on Oct. 1. Lawmakers are facing the added threat of a 1 percent funding cut if they fail to pass all 12 appropriations bills by Jan. 1 and resort to a stopgap spending patch.
|