The House Armed Services Committee will mark up its fiscal 2020 annual defense authorization bill Wednesday after most of the legislation advanced through the panel’s subcommittees last week.
Overall, the Democrat-led House’s fiscal year 2020 NDAA would authorize a $733 billion defense budget, including $633 billion for the Pentagon’s base budget and $69 billion in overseas contingency funding.
The Senate Armed Services Committee completed the majority of its NDAA markup activity behind closed doors last month.
During the House subcommittees’ markups last week, most of the major policy debate was saved for the full committee markup after wrangling over contentious issues, Military Times reported.
One of the issues includes prohibiting the use of Pentagon funds for the administration’s southern border barrier. It also would narrow to $1.5 billion the amount of 2020 military construction funds the Pentagon can transfer within its budget.
The draft also does not address the administration’s space force proposal, but on Monday lawmakers struck a bipartisan agreement to include an amendment to create the military branch during the bill’s debate, according to a Roll Call report.
Both chambers could pass their full committee drafts by the end of June, allowing the summer for administration, the Republican-led Senate and House to work out a compromise deal toward an overall fiscal 2020 budget agreement.
Here is a quick roundup of the important defense hearings this week:
Snap of the Week
Naval Academy plebes climb the Herndon Monument, a tradition symbolizing the successful completion of the midshipmen’s freshman year. The class of 2027 completed the climb in 2 hours, 19 minutes and 11 seconds. Navy photo by Stacy Godfrey
