In a 277-147 vote, the House passed the fiscal year 2017 National Defense Authorization Act after a late night session where Republican lawmakers successfully fended off attacks to the budget’s topline and procurement accounts.The $610 billion bill conforms to the limits set by last year’s budget deal, but House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) used the military’s wartime spending account, or Overseas Contingency Operations, to fund $18 billion in base expenses. The hope is to trigger the next…
