The House on Thursday ignored President Obama’s hints of a veto threat and passed a revised version of the fiscal 2016 defense policy bill to reflect the conditions of a budget deal that came in $5 billion below a plan submitted by the administration and approved by Congress.
The vote was 370-58. The Senate is expected to take up the bill early next week, but its fate remains uncertain because of a simmering dispute over the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The White House hinted Wednesday that President Obama, who vetoed the bill on Oct. 22 over the use of a war funding account meant to get around budget caps, might also object to language that would effectively bar him from closing the prison before he leaves office, as he has vowed to do.
“We’ll have to take a look at exactly what passes Congress before making a determination about what the president will sign,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters, stopping short of threatening another veto.
The provision is similar to language in previous years’ bills that Obama has allowed to stand.
The bill, which must be enacted every fiscal year, authorizes defense programs, including a 1.3 percent increase in military pay. It also contains important policy changes that have broad bipartisan support, such as provisions to overhaul military retirement, benefits and acquisition practices, along with an outright legal ban on torture in detainee interrogations.
Thursday’s House vote was originally scheduled as a veto override attempt, but sponsors redrew the bill to reflect the provisions of the two-year budget deal worked out late last month.
This bill, and the overwhelming bipartisan majority supporting it, demonstrated that we got it right from the beginning,” House Armed Services Chairman Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, said in a statement. “This time, I hope the president will drop the politics and sign the bill.”
The deal left the Pentagon with $5 billion less than Congress had originally voted to authorize, which military officials had said was the bare minimum they needed to keep up with operational needs and many lawmakers had said was the least they would accept.
To meet the requirements of the new budget, House and Senate negotiators had to shave nearly $1 billion off hoped-for spending increases in Army and Army National Guard readiness, along with other programs, and make $713 billion in further cuts to existing programs.
The reductions also include a $250 million cut to the $1 billion Counterterrorism Partnership Fund and a $125 million decrease in the controversial program to aid Syrian rebels.
Lawmakers also are counting on saving more than $1 billion on fuel costs, and $453 million by accelerating the streamlining of Pentagon bureaucracy.
Other large cuts include:
- $230 million from the Air Force’s Long Range Strike-Bomber program (this realigns it with the contract award delay). Northrop Grumman won the contract to build the bombers last week.
- $150 million from the Navy’s DDG 51 Arleigh Burke-class destroyer program
- $100 million from the Technology Offset Initiative
- $100 million for Lockheed Martin Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missile segment enhancements.
