WASHINGTON
(AP) — The Republican-led House voted convincingly Wednesday to approve
a $602 billion defense policy bill after rejecting attempts by
Democrats to close the detention facility at …
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-led
House voted convincingly Wednesday to approve a $602 billion defense
policy bill after rejecting attempts by Democrats to close the detention
facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and to repeal the war powers
President Barack Obama relies on to fight the Islamic State.
The legislation, which authorizes military spending for
the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, seeks to halt a decline in the combat
readiness of the U.S. armed forces by purchasing more weapons and
prohibiting further cuts in troop levels. But in a 17-page statement on
the policy bill, the White House detailed its opposition to numerous
provisions and said Obama would veto the legislation if it reached his
desk.
The bill, approved 277-147, must be reconciled with a version the Senate is expected to consider by month's end.
Republicans shot down an amendment by Rep. Jerrold
Nadler, D-N.Y., to strike parts of the bill that renew a longstanding
ban on moving Guantanamo detainees to the United States. The embargo has
kept Obama from fulfilling a campaign pledge to shutter the facility.
The White House said the restrictions interfere with the executive
branch's authority to decide when and where to prosecute prisoners.
The House soundly defeated an amendment authored by
Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., to revoke a 2001 authorization that Congress
gave President George W. Bush to attack any countries or groups
involved in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Obama is relying on that
nearly 15-year-old authority to send U.S. troops into combat against the
Islamic State.
Lee argued it's long past time for Congress to grant
new war powers that specifically approve the nearly two-year-old
campaign. "I am extremely disappointed that my colleagues left a blank
check for endless war on the books," she said.
But opponents of her amendment said no new
authorization should be granted until Obama produces a coherent strategy
for defeating the extremist group. Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., the
chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Obama has all the
authority he needs and Lee's amendment would "unilaterally end the
fight" against the Islamic State.
The bill included a provision that Democrats said would
overturn an executive order issued by Obama that bars discrimination
against LGBT employees by federal contractors.
Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the top Democrat on the
House Armed Services Committee, called the measure "taxpayer-funded
discrimination against LGBT individuals" and cited it as one the reasons
he refused to support the bill.
But Republicans said the measure is primarily a
restatement of part of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. "It's one paragraph.
That's it," said Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, the chairman of the House
Armed Services Committee. "I just get this feeling personally that
there may be those who are just looking for an excuse to vote against
the bill."
Smith also said Republicans used a "procedural trick"
to strip a provision that would have be required women to sign up for a
potential military draft. They replaced it with a measure to study
whether the Selective Service is even needed at a time when the armed
forces get plenty of qualified volunteers, making the possibility of a
draft remote.
The Obama administration objected to a Republican plan
to shift $18 billion in wartime spending to add additional ships, jet
fighters, helicopters and other equipment the Pentagon didn't request.
To make up for the shortfall in the wartime account,
Obama's successor would submit a supplemental budget to Congress in
early 2017, according to Thornberry, the plan's architect. He and other
proponents of the spending increase say it is essential to halt a
decline in the military's ability to respond to global threats — which,
they say, has worsened on Obama's watch.
But Defense Secretary Ash Carter has called the
strategy a "road to nowhere" that actually degrades combat readiness by
retaining troops and buying equipment that can't be sustained,
effectively creating a hollowed-out force. In a speech Tuesday, Carter
said Thornberry's plan "risks stability and gambles with war funding,
jeopardizes readiness, and rejects key judgments of the (Defense)
Department."
The House bill would block reductions in the number of
active-duty troops by prohibiting the Army from falling below 480,000
active-duty soldiers and by adding 7,000 service members to the Air
Force and Marine Corps. The legislation also approves a 2.1 percent pay
raise for the troops — a half-percentage point higher than the Pentagon
asked for in its budget submission.
The bill also includes a provision authored by
Thornberry to curb what Republicans say is micromanagement of military
operations by National Security Council staff. Thornberry said he has
personally heard from troops in combat who have received intimidating
calls from junior White House staffers even though their role is to
coordinate policy and advise the president.
To increase oversight and accountability, Senate
confirmation of the president's national security adviser would be
required if the size of the National Security Council staff exceeds 100
employees, according to the bill.
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Follow Richard Lardner on Twitter at http://twitter.com/rplardner
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