Defense policy bill delayed until after election

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) said today the fiscal year 2021 defense authorization bill will not formally enter conference committee negotiations until after the Nov. 3 election.

Smith, who spoke during a virtual event hosted by George Mason University, said the members of the House and Senate hope they can reconcile their respective defense bills for a final vote by the first week of December.

However, Smith said, staffers from both the House and Senate have been informally working on the more than 2,000 items in each bill since August.

Meanwhile, Smith responded to criticism some Democrats have levied at the Pentagon after a recent Washington Post story, which reported that defense contractors have received hundreds of millions in pandemic aid.

Some Democrats have cited the story in their calls for an investigation.

"There's nothing to investigate here, in my view," he said.

Smith said lawmakers could "quibble" with the Pentagon's spending choices but noted that Congress has always been aware of where DOD was spending its COVID-19 aid funds.

"There was nothing illegal about what they did," he said, referring to defense contractors, adding that he believed the funds were necessary to support the defense industrial base.

The Pentagon has denied accusations it improperly compensated contractors or blindsided Congress.