The House Appropriations Committee has passed a $578.6 billion defense budget bill that would fund most of the Pentagon’s key weapon programs in fiscal 2016, Defense News reported Tuesday.John Bennett writes the bill, approved by the committee in a voice vote Tuesday following a markup, includes almost $88 billion in overseas contingency operations spending.
During the session, committee members blocked an amendment that would have transferred extra funds from the OCO account to the Defense Department‘s base budget, according to the report.
Appropriators set aside $116.7 billion for military weapon acquisition efforts, Bennett said.
The legislation backs the A-10 Warthog program as well as procurement of Boeing AH-64 attack helicopters and P-8A maritime surveillance planes, Lockheed Martin F-35 fighters and naval ships.
