SENATE BILL BOOSTS F-35 BUYS: After a brief 15-minute subcommittee hearing Tuesday, Sens. Richard Shelby and Dick Durbin sent their $675 billion annual Pentagon funding bill to the full Senate Appropriations Committee. A final markup of the bill is set for Thursday. The bill details unveiled at the hearing point toward a big increase in F-35 joint strike fighters for 2019. The committee added $1.2 billion to pay for 12 more F-35s than the 77 requested by the Pentagon. That includes eight of the carrier variants for the Navy and four of the jump-jet versions for the Marine Corps.

APPROPRIATORS IN SYNC: The armed services committees might set policy and get much of the attention, but appropriators have the final say in what programs actually get funded. Both the House and Senate appropriations committees are in agreement that the Pentagon needs more F-35s, making an increase almost certain. The House 2019 defense spending bill now being debated on the chamber’s floor calls for 93 of the Lockheed Martin aircraft. It is a major break with the armed services committees, which either backed the Pentagon’s request of 77 or proposed a slight decrease in purchases.