OVERNIGHT DEFENSE: Pentagon won’t wait to deploy Iraq troops

THE TOPLINE: The Pentagon reversed a decision to delay deploying 1,500 troops to Iraq until Congress approved $5.6 billion in funding to pay for their missions. 

“We can deploy troops to the theater, but — so that — that process can and will continue,” said Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby at a briefing Thursday. 

{mosads}Kirby said Army Gen. Lloyd Austin, commander of U.S. Central Command, has also moved about 50 U.S. forces within Iraq to Anbar Province to get a “jump start” on expanding the advise-and-assist mission, as well as on starting to train Iraqi forces in their fight against Islamic militants.

“But it doesn’t mean that we still don’t need the authorization in terms of the resources that will go with the much more robust program that we’re trying to get done,” Kirby said. “He can start it and he is.”

President Obama ordered 1,500 more troops to Iraq on Nov. 7, which would double the total number of forces there to more than 3,000. 

Congress is expected to approve the funds as part of a spending bill that’s must-pass legislation to avoid a government shutdown next month. However, exactly when that will happen is unclear.

There is also some concern that the deployment needs to be sped up to capitalize on recent gains by Iraqi forces.

“One, it’s important and we wanted to get it started,” Kirby said. “No. 2, it sends an important signal both to the Iraqis and to coalition partners of how seriously we’re taking this.”

“And the sooner we get started, the sooner Iraqi units will improve in their capability and the sooner we’ll get coalition contributions to that particular mission,” he said. 

DOD TRANSFERS 5 FROM GITMO: The Defense Department is transferring five detainees from the Guantánamo Bay detention center to Slovakia and the Democratic Republic of Georgia.

The five are among the 55 cleared for release by President Obama’s Guantánamo Review Task Force in 2010, and includes the first Yemeni detainee released in years. 

In a statement Thursday, the Pentagon thanked both countries for their “willingness to support ongoing U.S. efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.”

Obama has tried to close the detention center since he took office, but has been blocked by Congress. Both the House and the Senate have voted to keep it open.

The Center for Constitutional Rights, a group that represents Yemini Abdel Ghaib Ahmad Hakim, praised his release.

“We are grateful to the Republic of Georgia for offering our client a new home where he can begin to rebuild his life after more than a decade in Guantánamo without charge or trial,” the group said in a statement.

The center noted that Hakim is the first Yemeni to be transferred out of the detention center since 2010 and that 84 of the 143 detainees still at Guantánamo are Yemeni.

The government has balked at sending Yemenis back to their country because of instability there.

Wells Dixon, an attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, though, said the turmoil in Yemen shouldn’t force detainees to be kept in Guantánamo any longer than necessary.  

“As we welcome Mr. Alhag’s resettlement, we are reminded that the remaining Yemeni men should be sent home or resettled without further delay,” he said, using an alternate name for Hakim.

DEFENSE BILL TALKS GRIND ON: A key Senator said it would be “unthinkable” for House and Senate lawmakers not to pass a defense authorization bill.

“It’d be unthinkable to me that we not pass a bill,” Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) told The Hill.

While “there’s always a danger” that differences between negotiators could torpedo a joint bill, the retiring lawmaker said, that would be a “real tragedy, I think, for our troops, and it’d be irresponsible to let that happen.”

Negotiations are stalled on Pentagon proposals that would have service members pay more for healthcare and housing. House lawmakers threw out the suggestions in their draft of the bill, while Senators kept them in their version. 

Levin said there are still “a few issues not resolved as of this time” but would not elaborate.

“We’re getting closer if only because we’re getting closer to the end of the week,” he said, adding it was still his hope that a finalized measure could be rolled out and passed by both chambers the first week of December.

WALZ ON ARMED SERVICES? A day after his hopes to be the top Democrat on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee were dashed, Rep. Tim Walz says he is in talks to join the influential House Armed Services Committee.

Walz said he is “kicking around the idea of Armed Services” with Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

“That might be a great combination,” Walz told The Hill, highlighting that Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.), the chairman of the VA panel, also sits on Armed Services. “It’s that transition point from the services to the VA.”

Walz, the highest-ranking enlisted soldier in congressional history, would have to drop one of his current assignments on the Agriculture and Transportation panels. House Democrats have an unofficial rule that members can only serve on two committees at a time.

The move would also mark a reversal of fortune for Walz, who on Wednesday was ineligible to run for the top VA spot by the Democrats’ Steering and Policy Committee because he was on the panel via a waiver. The full Democratic caucus eventually voted Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.) for the post.  

Pelosi offered Walz a seat on the VA panel in the 114th Congress, which he quickly accepted. But it’s unclear if that seat will be permanent or another waiver expiring at the end of 2016.

Pelosi also tasked him with chairing quarterly meetings with veterans service organizations.

Walz was pleased with the eventual outcome.

“In the long run the blessing is, it might be more effective doing this,” he said.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

— American Legion: Obama putting ‘amnesty’ above national security

— As deadline looms, Kirk pledges to move on Iran sanctions

— New House Oversight chairman to put spotlight on Clinton, Benghazi

— Will Iran talks be delayed again?

— Intel leaders make last push on cyber bill

Please send tips and comments to Kristina Wong, kwong@digital-staging.thehill.com, and Martin Matishak, mmatishak@digital-staging.thehill.com.

Follow us on Twitter: @thehill, @kristina_wong, @martinmatishak