FY-17 defense spending bill passes in House

The full House today approved the fiscal year 2017 defense appropriations bill by a 371-48 vote.

"The bill closely reflects the Defense Appropriations bill the House passed last summer, and is consistent with the final National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2017," according to a House Appropriations Committee statement. "The legislation funds critical national security needs, including military operations and readiness programs, as well as health and quality-of-life programs for our troops and military families."

House lawmakers approved $577.9 billion in defense spending, an increase of $5.2 billion over the FY-16 enacted level and $1.6 billion more than the Obama administration's request. This includes $516.1 billion in base discretionary funding -- a $2 billion increase above current levels -- and $61.8 billion in Overseas Contingency Operations funding, a $3.2 billion increase over current levels, according to the committee.

When combined with the $5.8 billion in supplemental funding enacted in last December's continuing resolution, total defense spending allocated for FY-17 is $583.7 billion, an increase of $10.9 billion over FY-16. The bill also fully funds a 2.1 percent pay raise for military personnel.

"Our nation faces dangerous, unpredictable threats across the world -- as well as a readiness crisis within our military at a time we can ill-afford it. We must rebuild our military to address this crisis and to tackle these threats -- and that starts with this bill," Appropriations Committee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ) said in the statement.

The bill now heads to the Senate for passage.