Week ahead: House to unveil Pentagon spending bill

House appropriators are set to unveil the chamber’s version of the annual defense spending bill.

Now that the House has passed its $612 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal 2016, the spotlight is on the House Appropriations defense subcommittee. 

Lawmakers will likely use a target of just over $579 billion for the Defense Department in fiscal 2016, with $490 billion in base spending and roughly $88.5 billion for the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account, the Pentagon’s war fund, according to budget documents. The final dollar amount, though, could still change.

{mosads}The top-line figure will likely differ from the policy bill’s because the spending legislation does not include national security efforts at the Energy Department and other agencies included in the NDAA.

The defense subpanel will release a draft of its legislation Tuesday and then convene behind closed doors Wednesday to mark up the measure.

Also on Wednesday, the Senate Appropriations military construction subcommittee will gather to mark up its spending legislation.

On Thursday morning, the House Homeland Security subcommittee on counterterrorism will hold a hearing about the administration’s plan to resettle potentially thousands of Syrian refugees inside the U.S.

Several lawmakers, including Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) and Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), have voiced concerns that terror groups such as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) could exploit the effort and create a “federally funded jihadi pipeline” into the country.

Thursday afternoon, the Senate Intelligence Committee will hold a classified hearing.

Both the House and Senate Armed Services committees are taking the week off.

Lawmakers no doubt hope to recuperate after the House passed its version of the defense policy bill and the Senate unveiled its own version that sets spending limits for all Pentagon programs and initiatives.

Off Capitol Hill,  Joint Chiefs of Staff Vice Chairman Adm. James Winnefeld will speak at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on Tuesday morning about U.S. missile defense and national security.

Later that day, the think tank will host top Polish officials, including the country’s defense minister, to discuss the security situation in eastern Europe in light of Russian aggression toward Ukraine. The officials will discuss how NATO can respond to the threat.

Also on Tuesday afternoon, U.S. Southern Command chief Gen. John Kelly will speak at the Atlantic Council.

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