U.S. lawmakers hope for vote on compromise defense bill this week

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

U.S. lawmakers hope for vote on compromise defense bill this week

BY PATRICIA ZENGERLE
WASHINGTON Mon Dec 9, 2013 5:07pm EST

(Reuters) - Leaders of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives Armed Services committees have agreed on a slimmed-down defense authorization bill and want the House to vote on the measure before it leaves on its year-end holiday recess at the end of this week, Senator Carl Levin said on Monday.

Levin, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the Senate was unable to vote on a huge range of proposed amendments to the bill in time to pass it this year, so committee leaders reached agreement on a compromise version of the legislation.

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The compromise bill authorizes $552.1 billion in spending for national defense and an additional $80.7 billion for foreign military operations, including in Afghanistan. The base budget is unchanged from the 2013 bill, but war spending is $7.8 billion lower.

The defense bill does not include an amendment seeking to overhaul the way the Pentagon handles sexual assault complaints, which was proposed by New York Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/09/us-usa-defense-bill-idUSBRE9B815420131209

[BlueStreak]

1. Which is still about $300,000,000,000 more than we need for defense

They should have to break this into categories:

Department of Defense of American Citizens and Interests: $200 Bn
Department of Multinational Corporation Support: $300 Bn