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Senate Pushes Defense Authorization to September

By John M. Donnelly, CQ Staff
CQ TODAY
July 31, 2008

The Senate will have to wait until September to take up its big defense authorization bill, as lawmakers prepared to leave town for the monthlong August recess without taking it up.

The Senate failed to end debate late Thursday on a motion to proceed to the $612.5 billion bill (S 3001) and limit debate to germane amendments. The 51-39 tally was nine votes short of the 60 needed to cut off debate.

Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., called for the procedural vote in an apparent attempt to cast Republicans as obstructionists. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky had blocked consideration of the defense measure, pending a chance to hold votes on offshore drilling and other Republican energy priorities.

Even if Thursday’s procedural vote had overcome the Republican filibuster, there was no time left before the August recess to consider the defense bill, after partisan dustups over other issues had thwarted weeks of behind-the-scenes attempts by Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin, D Mich., to start debating the bill while limiting amendments.

On July 26, Reid brought the issue formally to the Senate by asking for unanimous consent to allow the defense bill to come to the floor, with amendments confined to those that pertained to national defense.

McConnell objected and pledged not to consent to any agreement on the bill until his demands over votes on energy legislation were addressed.

A visibly angry Levin took to the Senate floor Thursday and vented his frustration that the continued wrangling could jeopardize the bill’s passage and put troops’ needs at risk.

“This is not our bill, this is their bill,” Levin all but shouted. “Let’s vote to take it up.”

Taking McCain’s Lead
McConnell said he was taking his cue from the Republican Party’s presumed presidential nominee, John McCain of Arizona, the ranking member on the Armed Services Committee, who preferred that the Senate continue its energy debate before moving to defense authorization.

But Republican John W. Warner of Virginia, who is filling in for McCain as ranking member in the candidate’s absence, disagreed, saying he would vote to end debate and proceed to the bill.

The Senate bill would authorize spending for the Pentagon and national security activities at the Energy Department in fiscal 2009. It includes a $70 billion emergency “bridge fund” to cover war costs in Iraq and Afghanistan through early summer 2009, although that money has already been provided in the most recent emergency supplemental spending law (PL 110-252).

The measure would authorize a pay raise of 3.9 percent for military personnel, which is a half-percentage point more than President Bush requested.

The Senate Armed Services Committee approved its bill April 30. The House passed its $612.5 billion measure (HR 5658) in May.

The Senate version of the legislation contains several provisions that the White House opposes. Some, such as a ban on using contractors to interrogate detainees, could lead to a veto.

The White House has issued a statement of administration policy on the House-passed bill but has yet to make a formal statement on the Senate committee’s version.

Some senators believe there is increased pressure to pass the bill early this year because there may be no late-fall session. But McConnell and other Republicans claim there is no rush, noting that the defense authorization bill has often been completed in September or even later.

The fiscal 2008 version (PL 110-181) did not clear until December, and then cleared again in January after an unexpected pocket veto by Bush.

Source: CQ Today Print Edition