Week ahead: Defense spending, Iran talks on lawmakers’ docket

Lawmakers will turn their attention to defense spending and ramp up their scrutiny of an emerging nuclear deal with Iran as they return next week from their Memorial Day recess.

On Tuesday, the House Appropriations Committee will mark up the 2016 defense appropriations bill, which aligns with the Republican budget resolution and defense policy bill.

Before the recess, the House Appropriations defense subcommittee approved a spending bill by voice vote that would appropriate $578.6 billion in discretionary defense funding, including an $88.4 billion war funding account.

{mosads}The appropriations bill leaves sequestration funding caps in place for defense and nondefense spending, but skirts the defense caps by adding money to the Pentagon’s war fund.

The administration, though, has pressed lawmakers to lift the caps for all spending.

The Iran talks will also return to center stage, as negotiators near the June 30 deadline to reach a deal rolling back Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

On Tuesday, behind closed doors, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hear from Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz on the talks after he returns from meeting with Iranian negotiators over the weekend. Scientists from U.S. nuclear laboratories around the country will also appear before the panel.

The next day, the committee holds a hearing on the “Implications of the Iran Nuclear Agreement for U.S. Policy in the Middle East,” with testimony from experts including former Ambassador James Jeffrey from the Washington Institute and former Ambassador Martin Indyk from the Brookings Institution.

Meanwhile the House Foreign Affairs Committee is looking at Iran’s detainment of three American hostages. On Tuesday, the panel will hear from the hostages’ families, as well as the brother of a missing FBI agent, Robert Levinson.

Naghmeh Abedini,, wife of Christian pastor Saeed Abedini; Sarah Hekmati, sister of former U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati; Daniel Levinson, son of Robert Levinson; and Ali Rezaian, brother of Washington Post Tehran bureau chief Jason Rezaian, will testify.

On Thursday, a statement from Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) office urged the administration to include the release of the American prisoners in the nuclear deal.

“One troubling aspect of these negotiations is the Obama administration’s refusal to require any deal with Iran to include the release of the three Americans imprisoned by the regime, including a Marine Corps veteran,” the statement said.

The U.S. strategy against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) will also grab lawmakers’ attention, following the disastrous defeat of Iraqi forces at the city of Ramadi.

The House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on the Middle East will hold a hearing Wednesday on U.S. policy towards ISIS.

Testifying will be three Ph.D.s: the American Enterprise Institute’s Michael Rubin, Tony Cordesman from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and former Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary for Middle East Policy Matthew Spence.

The House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday will also look at ISIS and extremists threats, in a hearing titled “Terrorism Gone Viral: The Attack in Garland, Texas and Beyond.”

Off Capitol Hill, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus speaks on the future of the Navy and Marine Corps on Tuesday at the American Enterprise Institute.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, speaks at the American Action Forum on Tuesday.

On the same day, the Brookings Institution hosts “Rethinking Cuba: New opportunities for development.”

The Hudson Institute will host an event on Iran’s missile program, and the Wilson Center will host an event titled “Economic Significance of the Nuclear Deal for Iran,” both also on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the Wilson Center is hosting an event titled “Weighing Concerns and Assurances about a Nuclear Deal with Iran.” 

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