The Senate voted 85-13 to pass a bill that would authorize $602 billion in defense budget for fiscal year 2017, Defense News reported Tuesday.
Joe Gould writes the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act contains acquisition reform provisions, including a measure that would limit cost-plus contracts and a proposal to remove the Defense Department’s chief weapons procurement role in order to split that position’s duties into two defense undersecretaries for acquisitions management and innovation.
President Barack Obama threatened to reject the proposed Senate legislation due to certain provisions including restrictions on the closure of military bases and a military detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to a report by Patricia Zengerle on Reuters.
The Senate passed the defense policy bill with a compromise with regard to the use of Russian-built RD-180 rocket engines, Zengerle wrote.
Jeremy Herb and Connor O’Brien also report for Politico that the proposed bill would also require women to register with the Selective Service System, reduce the size of the White House National Security Council and cancel the F-35 joint program office once the fighter aircraft hits full-rate production by 2019.
