House, Senate panel releases text of 2015 defense bill

[nitpicker]

http://thehill.com/policy/defense/225815-house-senate-panel-releases-text-of-2015-defense-bill

House, Senate panel releases text of 2015 defense bill
By Kristina Wong - 12/03/14 12:58 AM EST

The House and Senate Armed Services committees released late Tuesday evening the text of their proposed 2015 defense authorization bill, which was the result of months of negotiations between both panels.

"A new bill will be filed today, and the House of Representatives plans to pass it without change and send it to the Senate by the end of this week," according to a statement by Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) on Tuesday. He added that no amendments to the bill would be allowed. “At this point, there is no way that we can resolve disputes about which amendments should be debated, debate them, overcome potential filibusters, and still get the job done," he said. "We ask our colleagues to support us in bringing up and passing this bill without amendment as the best of a bad set of options.”

The bill, which authorizes the activities of the Defense Department, has hundreds of provisions that include troop pay and benefits, authority to train and equip moderate Syrian rebels, and funding for weapons programs.

The bill authorizes $521.3 billion in the base discretionary spending for national defense, and $63.7 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO).
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