The fiscal 2017 defense policy is stalled until after the election over disagreements about a bird with an elaborate mating dance, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee told reporters at the Capitol on Tuesday.
Analysts have speculated that the final version of the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act wouldn’t be completed until after the election due to the many differences between the two bills and the tight timeline for Congress to complete its business before heading back out in October.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., however, had held out hope, telling reporters last week that the compromise bill could be finished by now.
But by Tuesday, McCain said the National Defense Authorization Act wouldn’t be finished until after November because of a sticking point over the endangered status of the sage grouse.
“I don’t think we’re going to do anything until the lame duck,” McCain said. “The major issue obviously is the sage grouse, which the House people are insisting on including, and the interesting thing is if it were included, the president would veto and I’m not sure we could override a veto, that’s why it’s hard to understand.”
The House-passed bill includes a section that prohibits the sage grouse from being listed as an endangered species, while the Senate bill does not. The bird’s status has implications for bases where it lives and what military training can be done there.
Negotiators have made progress on many other points of difference, including discrepancies about reforms of the acquisition system, but McCain declined to talk about any of the specifics that will be in the final bill until it is completed.
“I don’t talk about what’s in the bill until it’s done,” he said.
The Senate bill made some radical changes to the acquisition system, including splitting the Pentagon’s top acquisition into two positions: one to focus on innovation and another to focus on business.
The House bill does not contain a similar provision, and instead makes smaller reforms to the acquisition system, like changes in intellectual property law to encourage companies to work with the Defense Department.
