Compromise defense bill would authorize $692B for spending

The final version of the annual defense policy bill would authorize nearly $700 billion in defense spending, senior Armed Services Committee staffers said Wednesday.

The boost in defense spending would allow for thousands more troops, a higher-than-requested pay raise, bulked-up missile defense and increased operations in Afghanistan.

Still, Congress has yet to reach a budget deal to increase spending caps, which the defense policy bill would bust through. That means some of the money authorized could end up not coming to fruition.

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“It’s been an ongoing conversation this year with the leadership team, the authorizers, the appropriators and the House Budget Committee to have a global agreement on what the topline should be, and we remain in active conversations with the leadership team, and I’m very comfortable that Chairman [Mac] Thornberry and united members of our conference have made their views on what sufficient resourcing levels are required to the Speaker,” a senior House Armed Services Committee staffer said Wednesday.

Senior staffers for the House and Senate Armed Services Committees briefed reporters on background on the contents of the compromise National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) after bicameral conferees wrapped up negotiations on the bill.

Staffers described the final product as bipartisan and said Democrats are expected to sign the conference report.

The compromise NDAA bill would authorize a total of $692.1 billion in defense spending. That would be split between $626.4 billion for the base defense budget and $65.7 billion for a war fund known as the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account.

That differs from the House-passed version of the NDAA that would have authorized $621.5 billion in the base budget and $75 billion for a OCO, and the Senate-passed version that would have authorized $640 billion for the base budget and $60 billion for OCO.

Unlike other recent years, this year’s bill would not use any of the OCO money for base budget items, staffers said.

The bill would allow the Army to add 7,500 soldiers in active-duty above what was authorized for fiscal 2017. The Army would also see an increase of 500 in the reserves and 500 in the National Guard.

The Navy would be boosted by 4,000 sailors in active-duty and 1,000 in reserves, while the Marines would be authorized for another 1,000 active-duty troops.

The Air Force would see an increase of 4,100 active-duty airmen, 800 in the reserves and 900 in the National Guard.

The bill would also authorize a 2.4 percent pay raise for troops, above the 2.1 percent requested by the administration.

The final bill also reflects President Trump’s Monday supplemental budget request, staffers said. That request asked for $4 billion more for missile defense, $1.2 billion to support sending 3,500 more troops to Afghanistan and $700 million to repair two ships badly damaged in this summer’s fatal collisions.

The bill also maintains several of the acquisition reform proposals from House Armed Services Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), including the so-called “Amazon provision” that would allow the Pentagon to buy commercial items online rather than through the General Services Administration.