Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe continues to press for a fallback plan as House Democrats block agreement on the National Defense Authorization Act or NDAA. Inhofe has introduced the Essential National Security Authorities Act for Fiscal Year 2020, which he has dubbed a “skinny” NDAA.
“These authorizations affect troop pay, our ability to defend our country and our partners overseas, and good-government procurement that will save taxpayer dollars,” said an aide to the Senate Armed Services Committee. “Chairman Inhofe wants to be sure that all options are on the table, so the skinny bill was filed as a backstop,” the aide said over the weekend.
The Democrats, led by Rep. Adam Smith, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, insisted on including a provision that would block President Trump from shifting any more military construction funds to extend barriers and fencing along the U.S-Mexico border.
The NDAA has not always been passed on time, but it consistently has passed before the next calendar year. That could be a challenge this year, with Congress consumed with impeachment hearings and a possible trial in the Senate.
There are only 23 scheduled legislative days left in the Senate and 16 in the House. Inhofe and others are concerned that the Senate’s time could be consumed by impeachment well into January, leaving no time for legislating.
It’s not just a matter of House-Senate negotiators cutting a deal. As with the appropriations bills, there is a math problem with an ever-shrinking window to get legislation passed. From the time an agreement is reached, it will take approximately 20 days to process the NDAA, according to the committee aide.
In the best-case scenario, in which a compromise is reached next week after the House’s Veterans Day recess, a bill could not be brought to the floor until the first week of December at the earliest.
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