Senate

McConnell sets up annual defense bill

by Jordain Carney - 05/31/15 10:24 PM ET

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) late Sunday set up the Senate to potentially start work later this week on an annual Defense Department policy bill.

The Republican leader moved to end debate on a motion to proceed to the House’s version of the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), setting up a first procedural vote for senators as soon as Tuesday.

{mosads}The Senate Armed Services Committee passed its own version of the NDAA earlier this month. That has also been placed on the Senate’s calendar, a first step for having it brought up for a vote.

Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) said the legislation, which lays out broad policy and spending requirements for the Pentagon, “takes a common-sense approach.”

“This bill takes a common-sense approach: It cuts spending from programs that have been delayed or failed to perform and redirects that revenue to meet the critical needs of our war fighters,” she said Saturday during the weekly Republican address.

The Senate still needs to wrap up work on the USA Freedom Act before moving to the defense bill. But if the Senate starts its work on the NDAA in June, it will mark a contrast to recent years when senators were often scrambling to finish work on the bill in November and December.

Last year, then-Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and then-Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) had to work out a compromise bill on the sidelines after the Senate failed to allow its version of the legislation to come up for a vote.

The White House has threatened to veto the House-passed NDAA legislation.

Tags Carl Levin Deb Fischer Mitch McConnell