The Senate voted to advance a $662 billion defense authorization bill recently for fiscal 2012, likely setting up the long-delayed legislation for final approval this week.
The 88-12 vote to reach cloture for the National Defense Authorization Act came one day after an agreement to an amendment proposed by senators Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), the chair and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, that is designed to curtail the influx of counterfeit electronic parts in the defense supply chain.
President Barack Obama has threatened to veto the bill over a controversial provision that requires some al-Qaeda suspects to be in military rather than civilian custody. An amendment seeking to modify that language was defeated by a 61-37 vote recently.
Cloture came after Levin and McCain worked successfully to get dozens of amendments approved by unanimous consent. Among them is a requirement for the Pentagon to report on the probationary period for the Marine Corps variant of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
Another sponsored by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) would require maintaining the triad of ground-, sea- and air-launched strategic nuclear weapons. An amendment from Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) would require the defense secretary to submit to Congress a long-term plan for maintaining a minimal capacity to produce solid rocket motors for ICBMs.
In total, 40 amendments were agreed to by unanimous consent to quickly move the policy bill along. Cloture established a 30-hour window before a final vote. Levin said he will work to clear remaining amendments ahead of a final passage vote.
The amount in the bill is $27 billion less than Obama’s request and $43 billion less than the amount appropriated for fiscal 2011, Levin said. The Pentagon’s actual budget will be determined by the appropriations committees in both chambers.
The Pentagon is facing $450 billion in reduced spending over the next 10 years, a number that could more than double under a sequestration measure if Congress cannot agree to a budget plan for the next decade by January 2013. A 12-member bipartisan “super committee” of senators and representatives failed to agree to a 10-year plan to reduce federal spending by a Nov. 23 deadline.
The anti-counterfeiting measure would bar defense firms charging the Pentagon for resolving problems associated with counterfeit parts. It would require larger contractors to create systems for detecting and avoiding the parts, and calls for reduced payments to companies that fail to do so, according to Levin’s office.
“The bill now contains important new provisions to help fight the tide of counterfeit electronic parts, primarily from China, that is flooding the defense supply chain,” Levin said moments before the vote took place.
Several other provisions in the amendment would require the Pentagon and contractors seek to buy electronic parts from “original component manufacturers and their authorized dealers or trusted suppliers who meet established standards for detecting and avoiding counterfeit parts,” Levin’s office said.
Fake parts were found in the Navy’s SH-60B helicopter and P-8 Poseidon aircraft, the Air Force’s C-130J, C-27J and C-17 aircraft, and Army and Marine Corps helicopters including the AH-64 and CH-46.
“These counterfeit parts endanger our troops, harm national security and cost taxpayers,” Levin said in a statement.
The Acquisition Reform Working Group (ARWG)–whose members include industry trade groups such as the Professional Services Council and Aerospace Industries Association–sent a letter to senators this week outlining flaws in the counterfeit parts measure.
The troubled F-35 program has been subject to much congressional criticism over massive cost overruns and delays. The Marine Corps’ F-35B, which contains a complicated and difficult short-landing and vertical take-off (STOVL) capability, was put into a two-year probationary period by then-defense secretary Robert Gates in January.