The House and Senate passed the final version of Pentagon policy legislation the week before Christmas, sending it to President Barack Obama’s desk.
The fiscal year 2013 defense authorization bill, unveiled by a conference committee of House and Senate negotiators on Dec. 18, authorizes $1.7 billion in funding beyond what Obama requested. It proposes a $552.2 billion base defense budget and $88.5 billion in war funding.
The House passed the compromise bill via a 315-107 vote Dec. 20, followed by the Senate’s 81-14 vote on the measure Dec. 21.
House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Chairman Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.) defended the size of the bill on Dec. 20, noting its level of funding “is a reduction in real terms from last year.”
He said the measure still preserves “critical military capabilities,” highlighting support in it for missile defense, global strike, and strategic and tactical airlift.
The bill, a compromise of bills that previously passed the House and Senate, contains multiple provisions that the White House opposed in the Statements of Administration Policy on those earlier versions. Yet House and Senate armed services committee members say they are confident Obama will sign the final iteration, which does not contain a measure the White House strongly opposed related to military detainees.
The bill bans the Pentagon from funding the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) program with Germany and Italy in FY ’13, stops the retirement of some Air Force aircraft, and blocks the cancellation of the Global Hawk Block 30 spy drone. The measure allows the Pentagon to continue with biofuel development and directs it to study an additional U.S. missile-defense site. It further authorizes added funding for M1 Abrams tanks to prevent a production shutdown and allows the Navy to use special incremental funding for the Virginia-class submarine program (Defense Daily, Dec. 19).
The legislation has several provisions that impact the defense industry, including a requirement for some contractors to report cyber attacks to the government.
The defense authorization bill sets policy and authorizes funding levels for the Pentagon in FY ’13, which started Oct. 1. Actual defense funding is more-directly controlled by the defense appropriations bill. Congress, though, did not pass a 12-month appropriations measure for the Pentagon in FY ’13 and instead is operating under a “continuing resolution” until late March that funds most programs near FY ’12 levels.