Defense Bills Defy Obama’s First Veto Threat
By Josh Rogin, CQ Staff
In a challenge to White House efforts to reshape military spending, and in defiance of President Obama’s first veto threat, both the House and the Senate have advanced bills that include money for a key program the administration is trying to end.
The Senate’s version of the 2011 defense bill, which the Armed Services Committee unanimously approved last week, would permit the government to spend up to $1.75 billion for seven F-22 fighter planes, extending the production line into next year.
The administration wants no more than 187 of the aircraft. On June 24, Obama threatened to veto the House version of the defense bill (HR 2467) over a provision that would add $369 million for the advance procurement of parts for 12 of the planes.
The Senate committee’s chairman and ranking member, Carl Levin , D-Mich., and John McCain , R-Ariz., both voted against the F-22 funding. They were defeated in a 13-11 committee vote, exemplifying the widespread bipartisan resistance in Congress to some of Obama’s plans for the military.
Levin and McCain said that the fight over the F-22 was far from over and predicted that amendments would be offered during floor consideration.
“We will fight that more on the floor,” McCain said of the additional money for the F-22.
Levin defended his committee’s bill as “at least 90 percent supportive” of the budget initiatives put forth by Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates in April. The Senate’s measure would agree with Gates’ plan to terminate many troubled defense programs, including large portions of the Army’s Future Combat System, the VH-71 presidential helicopter and several components of ballistic missile defense.
“I don’t think anybody’s looking for a battle here with the White House at all,” Levin said. But, he added, “obviously, we’re not in lockstep.”
Senate floor action is expected next month.
Additional Disputes
Several military funding disputes between Congress and the White House will be debated as the defense authorization bill makes its way toward Obama’s desk.
One concerns the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. After learning that the House added $603 million to support development of an alternative F-35 engine and restricted the remaining funding for the new fighter to pressure the Pentagon to go along, the White House threatened to veto any Defense authorization bill that would “seriously disrupt” the program.
The Senate committee voted 12-10 to add $438.9 million for the alternative-engine program and also added money for 18 F-18 planes for the Navy, rejecting the administration’s plan to procure only nine.
James M. Inhofe of Oklahoma, the committee’s second-ranking Republican, said he would support several amendments related to missile defense when the bill reaches the floor, including language to increase funding for two planned missile-defense sites in Eastern Europe.
The committee’s bill did not change existing restrictions, imposed by Congress, that barred construction of the sites. It did support the president’s plan to reduce total missile defense funding by about $1.2 billion from last year’s level.
The committee’s bill would also give a 3.4 percent pay raise to the military, equal to the House’s bill and more than the 2.9 percent increase requested by the administration.
Guantánamo Bay Detainees
The Senate’s defense authorization bill includes a provision to alter the rules of evidence for the forthcoming trials of detainees held at the U.S. facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
“President Obama has stated that he believes some detainees should be tried by military commissions,” Levin said. “But in order for that to happen, to survive legal challenge, those commissions and their procedures have got to be changed to be consistent with American principles of justice.”
Referring to guidelines spelled out in the Supreme Court’s 2006 decision in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, Levin said his language would modify several provisions of the law — for example, coerced testimony would be inadmissible in court if the language is enacted. The bill would also modify the admissibility of hearsay testimony, the use of classified evidence, detainees’ access to exculpatory evidence and jurisdiction over detainees, Levin said.
Levin, McCain, and Lindsey Graham , R-S.C., a former military lawyer, are working with the White House on the military commissions process, McCain said. He added that many detainee issues are not addressed in the bill. As an example, the bill contains no provisions to deal with the transfer of prisoners from Guantánamo Bay to the United States.
“There’s more to come on this whole issue of detainee treatment,” said McCain, predicting a contentious floor debate over the issue of transferring the prisoners to U.S. soil.