House lawmakers mark up defense authorization bill

The House Armed Services Committee has begun its marathon mark-up of the annual defense authorization bill.

The committee decided against regular subcommittee mark-ups this year and is instead considering those portions of the bill at the full committee hearing today.

The proposed bill would, among numerous other things, stick to the $895 billion topline for national defense mandated by the Fiscal Responsibility Act, add $1 billion to partially construct a second Virginia-class submarine, and cut $1 billion from the procurement of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter so that it can reinvested it in the mitigation of ongoing production issues.

As in the past, today’s hearing is expected to stretch deep into the night or the wee hours of tomorrow morning.

Senate authorizers, meanwhile, are slated to mark up their version of the bill on June 12.

It is important to note that, while the bill authorizes funding for the Defense Department, it falls to congressional appropriators to actually provide that funding in separate legislation.

Watch Inside Defense for additional coverage of the authorization mark-up process.