
The Senate Appropriations Committee (SAC) on Nov. 21 unveiled a nearly $651 billion fiscal year 2018 defense appropriations bill that adds $15.4 billion to the Trump administration’s budget request to boost such areas as aircraft procurement, missile defense, readiness and shipbuilding.The release of the chairman’s mark paves the way for negotiations with the House, which passed a $658.1-billion version of the defense bill in July. But committee leaders cautioned that the bill’s funding will automatically be slashed by tens of billions…