Week ahead: Marathon markup on defense bill

The House Armed Services Committee will mark up its annual defense policy bill, which authorizes Pentagon activities and funding. 

It is expected to be a marathon session on Wednesday, lasting from 10 a.m. to the wee hours of Thursday morning, as the panel decides on a number of controversial Pentagon initiatives, including whether to retire the A-10 attack jet fleet and accept the Army’s Aviation Restructure Initiative.

The panel’s subcommittees have already rolled out their portions of the bill. One notable decision was to adopt recommendations from a blue-ribbon panel reforming the military’s retirement system.

{mosads}The panel is seeking to change the Pentagon’s retirement program to allow all troops after two years to invest in a plan similar to a 401(k). 

The subcommittees also made crucial decisions on a number of weapons systems the Pentagon buys each year.

The House bill, if passed, would fund the Navy’s F/A-18 Super Hornet, the Marine Corps’ variant of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the Army’s Hercules Improved Recovery Vehicle, and the Army and Marine Corps’ Javelin missile program. 

The bill calls for an investigation of the F-35’s engine and logistics system, following an engine fire last June. It also pushes for faster modernization of the Army National Guard’s Black Hawk helicopter fleet. 

It also seeks to block the Navy’s plans for retiring cruisers and delaying updates to its destroyer fleet. The bill calls for a refueling overhaul of the aircraft carrier USS George Washington, construction of two new aircraft carriers and other fixes. 

The House bill authorizes funding to a level set by the House Budget Committee last month: $523 billion for base funds and $96 billion for the Pentagon’s war fund.

The Senate will mark up its bill in private, as it traditionally has, in the coming months.

The Senate could vote on the Iran bill authored by Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.). It is expected to pass unless any amendments derail Democratic support for the bill. Corker and the top Democrat on the panel, Sen. Ben Cardin (Md.), negotiated changes to the legislation that won the backing of the White House.

The Senate Armed Services Committee will also look at U.S. security policy in Europe on Tuesday, military space programs on Wednesday and the U.S. European Command budget on Thursday. 

The House Foreign Affairs Committee has a packed schedule as well. On Wednesday, it hosts subcommittee hearings on the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the Western Balkans, and the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act. On Thursday, it has hearings on ISIS, Bangladesh and the Central American migration crisis.

The Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee hosts a hearing Wednesday on the Government Accountability Office’s High Risk List, which targets agencies at risk for fraud and waste, and the Veterans Health Administration. The House Veterans’ Affairs Committee hosts a Thursday hearing on care and services for female veterans

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