Overnight Defense: House approves new defense policy bill

by Kristina Wong - 11/05/15 7:09 PM ET

THE TOPLINE: The House on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a new version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) after President Obama vetoed an earlier version of the defense policy bill.

“I hope that this year has been an anomaly, that never again does the bill that supports our troops become a political bargaining chip in a political game,” said House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas).

The central issue of the veto — funding appropriation — was resolved with the two-year budget deal passed last week, allowing the new version of the NDAA to easily pass the House, 370-58.

{mosads}The only change in the new version of the bill is $5 billion in cuts to match what was approved in the budget.

Though the budget deal resolved the fight over this year’s NDAA, Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, called for finding a way to avert sequestration beyond the two years set by the budget.

“Until we finally get rid of the budget caps and allow for a predictable — at least five- if not ten-year future, for our Defense Department — national security will be at risk,” Smith said.

When vetoing the original bill, Obama also opposed the language related to the Guantánamo Bay detention facility.

The new bill retains that language, preventing the transfer of Guantánamo detainees to the United States for another year.

On Wednesday, White House press secretary Josh Earnest stopped short of issuing a veto threat on the new NDAA over Guantánamo. But he said the president wouldn’t rule out using an executive action to close the prison.

Obama has threatened to veto the NDAA in past years over Guantánamo, only to ultimately sign it.

SENATE DEMS BLOCK DEFENSE SPENDING BILL AGAIN: Democrats blocked a defense spending bill for a third time on Thursday as they pushed for a deal on how to move funding legislation through the Senate.

Senators voted 51-44 in a procedural vote on taking up the $579 billion House-passed bill. Sixty votes were needed to move forward.

Democrats previously blocked the legislation in June and September while demanding a budget accord. Sen. Joe Donnelly (Ind.) was the only Democrat to vote for the legislation on Thursday.

Top Democrats this week sent strong signals that they would block the legislation over concerns that moving a stand-alone defense bill would allow Republicans to renege on the two-year budget agreement.

“We need to negotiate an omnibus all at once and all together,” said Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) earlier this week, arguing that the Senate “could pass a defense bill and then Republicans could say, ‘Well, we’ll do a [continuing resolution] on the rest of it,’ violating the budget agreement.

Republicans slammed the move. Moderate Republican Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said she is “truly perplexed” that Democrats are saying “there is a Republican plan to enact only the defense appropriations bill and then proceed to a continuing resolution for all of the other appropriations bills.”

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) tried to reassure Democrats on Wednesday evening, saying that Republicans “have every intention of then moving on to other appropriations bills.”

“Our members worked very hard on those bills. Nearly all of the appropriations measures passed committee with support from both parties. We obviously want to process them all,” he said.

Lawmakers now have until mid-December to pass legislation — either individually or as an omnibus — that would fund the government and avoid a shutdown.

OBAMA: ‘POSSIBILITY’ OF BOMB ON RUSSIAN PLANE: President Obama said Thursday it is possible a bomb was placed on a Russian passenger jet that crashed in Egypt.

“I think there is a possibility that there was a bomb on board, and we’re taking that very seriously,” Obama said in an interview with Seattle radio station KIRO.

But the president cautioned that the U.S. has made no official determination on the cause of the crash, which happened last weekend in the Sinai Peninsula.

“I don’t think we know yet” if a bomb was responsible for the crash, Obama said.

American officials are working to determine why the plane broke apart in mid-air.

The Airbus A321 was at 33,000 feet when it broke apart mid-flight on Saturday, scattering debris over a wide area and killing all 224 passengers and crew on board.

The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has claimed responsibility for the downed plane.

Officials have also left open the possibility that the crash was caused by a mechanical failure.

Other nations have been more willing to point to terrorism. British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Thursday that terrorism is “more likely than not” the reason for the plane’s crash.

BOMBED AFGHAN HOSPITAL TREATED TALIBAN: About 65 Taliban fighters were being treated at the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders, hospital in Afghanistan bombed by the United States, according to an internal review released Thursday by the charitable group.

Taliban members accounted for about half of the hospital’s 130 patients on the Wednesday before the deadly bombing, which killed at least 30 people. Two Taliban members appeared to have had higher rank, the report said.

“Some public reports are circulating that the attack on our hospital could be justified because we were treating Taliban,” said Christopher Stokes, MSF’s general director.

“Wounded combatants are patients under international law and must be free from attack and treated without discrimination. Medical staff should never be punished or attacked for providing treatment to wounded combatants.”

“MSF’s no-weapons policy was respected and hospital staff were in full control of the facility prior to and at the time of the airstrikes,” added Dr. Joanne Liu, international president of MSF.

The internal report is the first review to be released on the Oct. 3 bombing, which killed 13 staff and 10 patients. Seven other victims have not yet been identified.

U.S. military officials said the strikes came in response to a call for help from Afghan security forces, who said they were being fired upon from the hospital. MSF staff maintain there was no firing from the hospital the night before the strikes and that patients were unarmed.

The U.S.-led NATO military coalition is also due to soon release a casualty assessment. The U.S. military is also conducting a fact-finding investigation to determine what went wrong and who may be responsible.

ICYMI:

— Lawmakers support terrorism claim on Russian flight

— VA targets fraudulent small businesses

— McCain: ‘Disgraceful’ that Obama would close Gitmo unilaterally

— Veterans bill breaks Senate logjam on spending bills

— UK PM Cameron: Plane ‘more likely than not‘ downed by terrorists

Please send tips and comments to Kristina Wong, kwong@digital-staging.thehill.com, and Rebecca Kheel, rkheel@digital-staging.thehill.com