The House Armed Services Committee will hold the marathon mark-up of its fiscal year 2020 defense authorization bill this week.
Wednesday, July 17, 2019
Wednesday, July 17, 2019
Tony Bertuca is chief editor of Inside the Pentagon, the flagship publication of InsideDefense, where he focuses on defense budget and acquisition policy. He previously worked for the Sun-Times News Group in his hometown of Chicago, IL, and at the New Hampshire Union Leader in Manchester, NH. Tony has also served as managing editor of Inside the Army. He has a master's degree in journalism from Boston University.
The House Armed Services Committee will hold the marathon mark-up of its fiscal year 2020 defense authorization bill this week.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) says he is trying to position the fiscal year 2020 defense authorization bill to engage not only Republicans in the Senate, where the GOP has a majority ready to fight for higher spending and resist restrictions on nuclear weapons, but also members of his own caucus in the House, where Democratic leaders have increasingly been at odds with the party's progressive wing.
Inside Defense has obtained House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith’s (D-WA) mark of the fiscal year 2020 defense authorization bill.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) has set a $733 billion topline for total defense spending in his mark of the fiscal year 2020 defense authorization bill, blocking all Pentagon funding for President Trump’s border wall and putting the panel at odds with the Senate Armed Services Committee, which has approved $750 billion, according to a copy of the "chairman's mark" obtained by Inside Defense.
The United States is suspending Turkey, a key NATO ally, from the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program for refusing to back out of a deal to procure a Russian-made missile defense system.
The Pentagon continues to wrestle with challenges and internal disagreements resulting from seismic congressional reforms that restructured its acquisition oversight process and gave the military services more direct control over major programs, according to a new Government Accountability Office report.
The Pentagon is investigating how it might use rapid acquisition authorities to ensure access to critical minerals vital for powering major weapons and communications systems should China and Russia disrupt U.S. supply chains, according to a new Trump administration report.
Lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee, acting on concerns the Defense Department is investing too little in science and technology, have drafted legislation that would mandate accountability should the S&T portfolio be cut in the future.
The Senate Armed Services Committee has agreed to a defense authorization bill that seeks to streamline and accelerate the Pentagon's contracting process, with a special focus on potentially loosening requirements for cost and pricing data.
The House Armed Services Committee begins marking up its version of the fiscal year 2020 defense authorization bill this week, while the Senate Armed Services Committee holds two nomination hearings.
Acting Deputy Defense Secretary David Norquist said today he is optimistic about the chances for Congress to eventually reach a bipartisan budget agreement, but only because the alternative is unthinkable.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford said today the Pentagon should be cautious about increasing the size of the military at the expense of investments in new technologies critical to maintaining longstanding advantages over China and Russia.
Senior Pentagon officials are scheduled to appear around the Washington area this week, while several defense companies host earnings calls. Meanwhile, acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan is traveling to Hawaii, Indonesia, Singapore and Japan. Congress is out.
The GOP-led Senate Armed Services Committee, as expected, has approved $750 billion in total defense spending for fiscal year 2020, according to a summary of the panel’s authorization bill.
The Senate Armed Services Committee has agreed to defense authorization bill that would require the Defense Department's annual report on Chinese military strength include a new assessment of Beijing's overseas investments related to national security objectives.
A week after its executives were asked during a congressional hearing to voluntarily refund “excess” profit, TransDigm has not returned the funds, according to a Defense Department spokesman.
Senior Pentagon acquisition officials are writing new intellectual property policies amid heightened scrutiny from Capitol Hill, where concerns about price gouging have put a new spotlight on the issue.
The House Appropriations Committee voted 30-22 today to pass the fiscal year 2020 defense spending bill.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said today a two-year spending deal that includes raising the debt ceiling could be made between Republicans and Democrats as soon as the end of the day.
The absence of a broad budget deal in Congress is being highlighted by the release of a White House letter opposing the defense spending bill crafted by House Democrats.