Defense Bill Clears Senate

The Senate voted 70-27 today to agree to the conference report on the fiscal year 2016 defense authorization bill, which passed the House on a 270-156 vote Oct. 1. The legislation now heads to the White House, where President Obama has threatened a veto because of the bill's reliance on an overseas contingency operations (OCO) account funding "gimmick" that sidesteps 2011 Budget Control Act spending caps for the Defense Department, but not for other areas of government.