Senators moving out on defense policy bill

The Senate Armed Services Committee has agreed to dozens of bipartisan amendments to its version of the fiscal year 2025 defense authorization bill and is preparing to enter conference negotiations with the House.

Chairman Jack Reed (D-RI) and Ranking Member Roger Wicker (R-MS) have filed a “manager’s package” that includes 93 non-controversial amendments as well as attaches the annual authorizations for intelligence, the State Department and other federal agencies to the defense policy measure.

“To enact the bill in a timely manner,” the committee-passed version of the bill and House-passed version will be “combined through a series of negotiations" led by top defense authorizers from each chamber.

The Senate committee’s bill supports a total of $923 billion in national defense spending, breaking the cap mandated by the 2023 Fiscal Responsibility Act by about $25 billion. The bill authorizes $878 billion for the Defense Department and $33 billion for the Energy Department, with about $11.5 billion being out of the legislation’s jurisdiction.

The House bill, meanwhile, sticks to the FRA spending limit, meaning the final topline will have to eventually be worked out by congressional leaders, who have also begun meetings to avert a partial government shutdown before Oct. 1.

Elsewhere, the Senate committee's bill authorizes increased funding to build a second Virginia-class submarine as well as an additional $1.43 billion for a third Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, which stands in contrast to House authorizers and appropriators whose bills only fund two ships.

The bill does not change the Pentagon’s request for 68 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, though House authorizers are looking to cut 10 jets and House appropriators seek to procure an additional eight jets.

Watch Inside Defense for additional reporting.