The fiscal year 2021 defense policy bill may be narrower in scope so that partisan issues do not jeopardize the bill’s chances of passing, especially in an election year, the House and Senate armed services committee chairs said in separate interviews with Defense News.
“I think we’re going to be a little less ambitious about what we try to get into the bill,” House Armed Services Committee Chair Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said.
The fiscal year 2020 bill was signed into law just before Christmas after months of stalled negotiations over such issues as the border wall, transgender troops, PFAS cleanup and parental leave.
Smith’s Senate counterpart, Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), said he wants to again strike an early deal with the committee’s Democrats.
“I wouldn’t do ours differently,” Inhofe said. “I would encourage the Democrats and Republicans in the House to do theirs earlier.”
Congress has passed a defense authorization bill every year for 59 years.
Army photo of Sen. Jim Inhofe by Sgt. Dana Clarke
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