US Senate passes defense bill, budget act

During the week before the year-end holiday recess, the U.S. Senate passed the Fiscal Year 2014 National Defense Authorization Bill by a vote of 84-15. The House of Representatives previously passed the bill by a vote of 350-69. The final bill authorizes $526.8 billion in the base budget, $17.6 billion for DOE nuclear programs, and $80.7 billion for overseas contingency operations. H.R. 3304 contains funding authorities and policy directives for the Department of Defense. The president is expected to sign the legislation into law.

 

On Dec. 18, 2013, the Senate, on a vote of 64-36, passed the Bipartisan Budget Act (H. J. Res. 59), the bill providing sequester relief for fiscal years 2014 and 2015 and setting new discretionary appropriations caps for those years. The bill is on its way to the president for his signature.

 

Although the BBA reduces the total sequester cut required in 2014, it doesn't eliminate the sequester caps altogether, and that it still leaves the defense budget approximately $30 billion below the president's budget request for FY14.