SHOWTIME FOR DEFENSE SPENDING BILLS: The House brings its $675 billion defense appropriations bill to the floor today along with 24 potential amendments. The 2019 spending bill is the next step in the annual budget process after the House and Senate passed their versions of the National Defense Authorization Act and are set to hammer out a final policy bill in conference. “The authorizations seem to be moving very, very well. This [appropriations legislation] is something this Congress could I think get done before Sept. 30 as long as the bill isn’t held hostage for other things in the appropriations process,” Rep. Tom Cole, a senior Republican on the House Rules Committee, said Tuesday evening as the committee teed up the 2019 spending legislation.

HAPPENING TODAY: Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has arrived in China, where it is already Tuesday night. Mattis has meetings first thing in the morning, where he says he’ll discuss “areas of mutual concern,” including areas in which the U.S and China “have common interests, and where our interests diverge.”

Mattis, who disinvited China from the Rim of the Pacific exercise says he is reviewing the military-to-military relationship with China to ensure it’s “aligned within our larger strategic framework.” Mattis says he plans to do more listening than talking. “The way to get to the other issues that are vexing is to start with strategic transparency as a way to get to operational transparency. So that would be my message,” he told reporters on his plane Sunday.

STILL WAITING: Progress toward North Korean denuclearization is expected to be a major topic of discussion between Mattis and senior Chinese leaders. The U.S. is still waiting for evidence that North Korea is taking unambiguous steps to dismantle its nuclear program, and despite rising tensions between Washington and Beijing over issues such as trade and the militarization of man-made islands in the South China Sea, the U.S. is still counting on China to maintain pressure on Pyongyang.

Last week, Kim Jong Un was in Beijing for a two-day visit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who said China would “as always play a constructive role” in the process.

ONE SMALL STEP: Meanwhile, North Korea has canceled its annual “anti-U.S. imperialism” rally, a sign that tensions between the two nations are easing following the historic meeting this month between Trump and Kim. The July 27 rally is a national holiday that celebrates the “Victory in the Fatherland Liberation War,” and marks the start of the Korean War.

ALSO TODAY: The Senate Armed Services Committee considers the nomination of Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Lyons to be promoted to general and take over command of U.S. Transportation Command at 9:30 a.m. Live-streamed at the committee website.

THE ENDGAME IN SYRIA: “Just bear with us. There’s still hard fighting ahead,” Mattis told reporters en route to China, as he gave an upbeat assessment of the progress in wiping out the last remnants of the Islamic State in eastern Syria along its border with Iraq. “We win every time our forces go up against them. We’ve lost no terrain to them once it’s been taken.”

By “our forces,” Mattis means the Syrian Democratic Forces, backed by the U.S. and Iraqi security force on the other side of the border. The two armies linked up over the weekend along the border in Hasakah Province of Syria. “That is a significant achievement,” Mattis said. “Now that they’ve linked up, [they are] driving north and south along that border.”

BACK IN THE WEST: On the other side of the country, the Syrian army of Bashar Assad has stepped up an offensive against rebel-held regions in and around Syria’s southern city of Daraa. The BBC reports thousands of civilians have fled the city where Syria’s civil war began in March 2011.

And the Institute for the Study of War says in its latest analysis that Iran and Russia are preparing to attack the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces in eastern Syria, in a bid to “coerce the SDF to abandon its relationship with the U.S. and instead cut a deal with Assad.”

“Iran and Russia will attempt to compel the withdrawal of the U.S. from Syria by inflicting deniable costs and stoking guerilla conflicts through their proxies in Northern and Eastern Syria,” says the ISW. “The U.S. must commit to defending its partners and presence in Eastern Syria in order to prevent the resurgence of ISIS and deny key resources to Iran, Russia, and Assad,” the group urges.

“Well, we’re looking very closely at what’s going on,” Mattis said Sunday. He called Syria the “most complex security challenge anywhere,” and said while he has consulted with several allies in the region, “it’s right now in the secretary of state’s hands, to work this forward.”

A MORE “NATIONALISTIC, INTRANSIGENT’ TURKEY: In a separate analysis, the ISW also predicts the U.S. is going to find Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan even more difficult to deal with now that he has emerged from snap elections with sweeping powers that allow him to essentially rule by decree. “He can now issue presidential decrees with the force of law — a power previously available only during a state of emergency.”

“Erdogan is empowered to further consolidate his domestic power and degrade the rule of law at the expense of his political opponents. The U.S. will face a more nationalistic — and more intransigent — Turkey that is more willing to buck its alliance with NATO and expand military operations against Kurdish militants in Syria and Iraq.” Read the full analysis here.

BLISS AND GOODFELLOW: The Pentagon yesterday declined to confirm reports that it has settled on Goodfellow Air Force Base and the Army’s Fort Bliss as the two bases in Texas that will be building temporary tent cities to house immigrants illegally crossing the country’s southern border. Several news outlets identified the two bases, saying one base would house unaccompanied children while the other will host families.

Speaking to reporters on his plane, Mattis confirmed the decision has been made to proceed with the plans to build temporary camps, but declined to name the specific bases.

F-16s FOR BAHRAIN: Lockheed Martin announced yesterday it was awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build 16 new F-16 Block 70 fighters for the Royal Bahraini Air Force. Lockheed said this marks the first sale of the Block 70, the most advanced F-16.

“The F-16 Block 70 features advanced avionics, a proven Active Electronically Scanned Array radar, a modernized cockpit, advanced weapons, conformal fuel tanks, an automatic ground collision avoidance system, an advanced engine and an industry-leading extended structural service life of 12,000 hours,” according to Lockheed.

HOPES FOR AFGHANISTAN PEACE: British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is the latest to express optimism that the brief cease-fire between the Afghan government and the Taliban could be the start of something big. Johnson was in Kabul for talks with Afghanistan’s top leaders.  

“In my meetings with President Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah, I welcomed their historic offer of unconditional talks earlier this year, and their determined recent efforts towards a political process with the Taliban,” Johnson said. “At this important moment when Afghan-led efforts towards peace and a political settlement have gained considerable impetus, I was proud and inspired to be in Kabul to see how the UK is working in support of the Afghan Government to achieve this goal.”

Mattis was more cautious when he discussed the prospects for peace with the traveling press corps. “Ghani again offered a ceasefire. They agreed to three days of it. Ghani offered an extension. They did not accept that, but it was quite interesting to see how, among Taliban and Afghans, there were people sharing the — breaking the fast meal at the end of Eid,” Mattis said. “Clearly, Ghani has hit a responsive chord that was not just on the Afghan national government side. It also cut deep into the Taliban. So we’ll see how this goes forward.”

CLAPPER ON MATTIS: Asked to comment on recent reports that Trump doesn’t rely much on the advice from Mattis anymore, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told CNN there could be a “tipping point” that would prompt Mattis to leave. “I think he would have a tipping point and only he knows what that is that would maybe cause him to feel that perhaps he would be less effective if he stayed on,” speculated Clapper, who is now a paid CNN contributor.  “I think if it reached the point where he himself felt that he was just ineffective and had no voice, no influence, I don’t know how long he would linger. Other cabinet members, notably [the] attorney general, [it] doesn’t seem to bother him, but I don’t know about Secretary Mattis.”

SPICER’S ‘COMMON GROUND’: Current Navy reservist and former White House press secretary Sean Spicer is reportedly working on a television interview show, tentatively titled “Sean Spicer’s Common Ground.” According to a “pitch sheet” obtained by The New York Times, Spicer would be hosting “some of the most interesting and thoughtful public figures for a drink and some lite conversation at a local pub or cafe.”

“The relaxed atmosphere is an ideal setting for Sean to get to know his guests as they discuss everything from the media to marriage,” the pitch continues. “They might even tangle over the merits of making your bed or the value of a great point guard.”

The syndication company Debmar-Mercury has confirmed a pilot episode of the series is in the works. Meanwhile, a uniformed Spicer was spotted in the halls of the Pentagon this month fulfilling his reserve duty requirement.

THE RUNDOWN

Washington Examiner: Iran: US wants us to quit the nuclear deal

Defense News: The new B-21 Raider could hit a big milestone this year

Air Force Times: Peace on the peninsula?: What the Korea summit means for airmen

USA Today: Military reinvents the wheel with new shape-shifting combat vehicle

Washington Examiner: Trump leverages Corporate America’s arsenal in quest for space dominance

Defense One: In Afghanistan, Ceasefires Could Pave a Path to Peace

Reuters: Taliban rejects pleas by Afghan elders for a ceasefire extension

Fox News: Navy pursues new long-range, stealthy and precise Mk 48 heavyweight attack torpedo

Business Insider: The Air Force has picked a base to test the military’s new long-range anti-ship missile

Task and Purpose: This Army Hero Fought Off 600 Nazis Virtually Alone. Now He’s Getting The Medal Of Honor

Army Times: Migrants ‘lucky we aren’t executing them,’ National Guardsman writes on social media

AP: Racial climate at US Coast Guard Academy faces new scrutiny

Defense News: Advanced Arresting Gear Is Coming Along