Senate Appropriations Committee approves defense bill

By Tony Bertuca / May 26, 2016 at 11:25 AM

The full Senate Appropriations Committee today unanimously approved the fiscal year 2017 defense spending bill in a 30-0 vote.

The bill diverges from one supported by House appropriators, who seek to transfer $16 billion from the Pentagon's overseas contingency operations fund to the base budget to pay for increase spending on weapons systems and military end strength.

Meanwhile, the Senate defense spending bill recommends $515.9 billion for the Pentagon's base budget and $58.6 billion for the OCO account.

The bill now heads to the full Senate for approval.

UPDATE 1:54 p.m.: Inside Defense has obtained the bill text and report language. Click here to view them.

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