$585 billion bill on military gets House approval
WASHINGTON — The Republican-controlled House approved a $585 billion defense policy bill that grants President Barack Obama the authority to expand the U.S. military campaign against Islamic militants in Iraq and Syria despite misgivings about a new American combat role after more than a decade of war.
The vote Thursday was 300-119 for the measure that authorizes funds for American troops as well as ships, planes and other war-fighting equipment built in congressional districts nationwide. The annual defense bill sets military policy and spending targets for fiscal 2015, which started Oct. 1.
Arkansas’ all-Republican House delegation supported the bill, though only Reps. Tom Cotton, Steve Womack and Tim Griffin voted for it. Rep. Rick Crawford had a family emergency and was not in Washington to vote. His staff said he would have voted for it.
The measure now goes to the Senate, where passage is expected next week, although some GOP senators expressed anger that the bill contains unrelated provisions to expand wilderness areas.
The legislation endorses Obama’s latest request to Congress in the 4-monthold fight against the Islamic State extremists who have overrun large sections of Iraq and Syria. The bill provides $5 billion for the stepped-up
operation of airstrikes and the dispatch of up to 1,500 more American troops.
It also reauthorizes the Pentagon plan to train and equip moderate Syrian rebels battling the forces of President Bashar Assad, the mandate for which expires next Thursday. The legislation would extend that authority for two years.
Still, war-weary lawmakers expressed considerable unease about a slippery slope for the American military after years of conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“We’re getting more deeply involved in the war in Iraq and Syria,” complained Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass.
The top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, insisted that U.S. involvement is limited.
“The train and equip mission is just that,” Smith said. “I don’t want U.S. combat troops fighting this ground war. … By training and equipping the Syrians and Iraqis, we can empower them to fight their own ground war with our support from the air.”
Despite the passage of the defense bill, unity on a new legal justification for U.S. military operations against the Islamic State extremists remained elusive.
Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee sought to push through a measure defining how Obama can use military force in Iraq and Syria. But Republicans, who are generally supportive of the war, rebelled. They objected to a lack of debate and legislative maneuvering.
The 18-member panel’s meeting ended with Sen. Bob Menendez, the outgoing Democratic chairman, pulling the amendment and promising a hearing next week to update the president’s current legal justification for fighting: authorizations in 2001 to fight al-Qaida and a year later to invade Iraq. Menendez spoke of a vote Wednesday.
Meanwhile, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, reiterated his call for Obama to submit a proposal to Congress for a new authorization.
SOME SPECIFICS
The bill approved Thursday would provide the core funding of $521.3 billion for the military and $63.7 billion for overseas operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to the House Armed Services Committee.
Despite Obama’s objections, the measure maintains a prohibition on transferring terror suspects from the federal prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the United States.
Among other provisions, the bill also would prohibit the retirement of the A-10 Warthog close-air support plane. The Air Force pressured Congress to retire the Warthog fleet to save more than $4 billion over five years, a move opposed by several generations of combat veterans who say it provides close-air protection that more advanced aircraft can’t duplicate.
The measure would let the Pentagon place as many as 36 aircraft into a reduced operating posture. The exception requires a Pentagon cost assessment and evaluation study, and a certification by the secretary of defense.
The Government Accountability Office also is assigned to review the A-10 program, congressional aides said. The bill would authorize an additional $331 million from the base budget to operate the A-10 fleet, according to a committee fact sheet.
The legislation rejects the Army’s proposal to begin moving all eight battalions of Army National Guard AH-64 Apache helicopters to the active-duty Army.
The negotiators also agreed to prohibit any transfer of Apaches in fiscal 2015. Their agreement would let personnel-related preparation activities and planning go ahead.
It would allow the Army to transfer as many as 48 aircraft in fiscal 2016, essentially permitting a restructuring to begin then. Negotiators also agreed to create a National Commission on the Future of the U.S. Army, which would report back to Congress by Feb. 1, 2016.
The Pentagon sought cuts in military benefits. Lawmakers compromised by agreeing to make service members pay $3 more for copays on prescription drugs and trimming the growth of the off-base housing allowance by 1 percent instead of the Pentagon’s deeper 5 percent recommendation.
The legislation also would change the military justice system to deal with sexual-assault cases, including scrapping the nearly century-old practice of using a “good soldier defense” to raise doubts that a crime has been committed.
The measure would give accusers a greater say in whether their cases are litigated in the military or civilian system, and would establish a confidential process to allow victims to challenge their separation or discharge from the military.
Officials said Thursday that the number of sexual assaults reported by military service members increased 8 percent in 2014, suggesting that victims are far more willing to step forward and seek help or file complaints than in years past.
LAWMAKERS WEIGH IN
Cotton, who was a captain in the Army, said Thursday that the bill fills one of Congress’ most important duties by providing for a common defense.
“America faces many grave threats around the world, and I am pleased the House voted to provide our military with the tools they need to keep us safe,” Cotton said in a statement.
Griffin said he was glad that the bill includes criteria for awarding the Purple Heart to service members killed or wounded in an attack motivated by a foreign terrorist organization.
“For the past four years, I have urged the Department of Defense (DoD) to award the Purple Heart to Pvt. William Long and Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula, the victims of the 2009 terrorist attack on the Little Rock Recruiting Station. Under the newly established criteria, there is no longer any excuse to refuse these men the Purple Heart,” he said in a statement.
Womack said the bill provides necessary support for the military.
“America is at war, and as our country faces continued uncertainty, it is Congress’s job to ensure that those who protect us from these threats — our men and women in uniform — at least have certainty from Congress,” he said in a statement.
While laws covering many other parts of the government routinely are allowed to lapse because of disagreements or disinterest, a defense authorization has been enacted for 52 consecutive years, a record that lawmakers cite as a sign of bipartisan support for the military and the sacrifices made by American forces worldwide.
“Right now, they are walking patrol in the mountains of Afghanistan,” House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard “Buck” McKeon said Thursday in a floor speech. “They are at sea within missile range of Iran. They are flying wingtip-to-wingtip against Russia bombers over the North Sea. They are noseto-nose with the North Koreans. They are sweating in the equatorial heat of Africa, fighting a horrible disease.”
This year, McKeon and the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee — Democrat Carl Levin — are retiring.
Before Thursday’s vote, an emotional McKeon struggled to deliver his final plea for the bill and request for the next Congress to reverse the automatic, across-the-board spending cuts that have hit the Pentagon.
“Please show our troops the respect they deserve,” said a teary-eyed McKeon, who received hugs and handshakes from Republican and Democratic aides as well as from Smith.