Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Capitol Hill Deals Bode Well for Military,Industry

Two major legislative compromises on Capitol Hill offer significant relief to the armed forces and defence industry.First,the House and Senate Armed Services Committee leaders announced that a compromise had been reached on the 2014 Defense Authorization Bill.This bill authorises the budget committees to appropriate 14.5 billion dollars for defence needs.
We've worked across party lines,said Congressman Buck McKeon,R-California,chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.We found common ground on Guantanamo Bay and sexual assault issues.We are where we are.We owe the men and women in uniform to complete this bill.*
Senator Carl Levin,D-Michigan,chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee,said the bill extends authority to fund harsh duty and combat pay;enables the President to transfer detainees from Guantanamo Bay to third countries,and forbids their transfer to the US for detention and trial;and makes Article 32 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice more of a grand jury process.It also funds the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons stockpile,and for the government of Jordan to secure its border.
It is a bill by consent,abandoning many ammendments.We reached agreement on a bill that at least has a chance of getting passed by both houses.Our troops are in harms way;there a number of authorities that will expire,a whole list of them,including combat pay-about 30 of them.*
Senator James Inhofe,R-Oklahoma,ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee,said it has to be done in December.Things are gonna expire on December 31,such as hazard pay;re-enlistment bonuses;impact aid for the school system and major construction projects such as the new Strategic Command headquarters,which is halfway through;and CVN 78,the aircraft carrier Gerald Ford.We'd be wasting billions of dollars if we don't do this.We have a good product and we're gonna do our best to get it passed.*
When we consider our men and women in uniform,the answer is yes.We have the bill.We're ready to move forward,Congressman McKeon added.*
Retaliation is made a crime in the revised UCMJ.Commanders are held accountable for the climate inside their units.They cannot reverse the finding for a court marshal.If there's a sexual assault claim that is filed that doesn't reach a court marshal,it must go to a senior official,a high-ranking officer or service secretary,Senator Levin explained.*
Soon afterward,Congressman Paul Ryan,R-Wisconsin,and Senator Patty Murray,D-Washington,chairs of the House and Senate Budget Committees,announced a budget compromise that would allocate a trillion dollars over two years,avoiding further government shutdowns and saving defence spending from draconian cuts under sequestration.The deal puts 63 billion back into defence,infrastrucure and medical research spending for two years,blunting seqestration in critical areas.*
Neither side is getting everything it wants,the two Members of Congress on opposite sides of the aisle emphasised,praising one another for their collaborative efforts.
The deals are to be voted on in the House of Representatives this week,before the House goes into recess December 13.
Update:The Pentagon heaved a sigh of relief as the House passed both the budget and defence authorisation bills by a wide majority Thursday.The Democrat-controlled Senate is expected to follow suit.The most draconian cuts under sequestration have been nullified and there will now be stability in defence spending for the next two years.Basically,it means we stay at about current spending levels-not ideal,but avoiding the blatant damage to national security that would have occurred had the compromise not passed.
Under sequestration,the Pentagon would have been faced with a decline to 498 billion dollars in 2014 from the current level of 518 billion.The bills just passed grant the Pentagon 520 billion-a slight increase from 2013.

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