Today the House is beginning its second day of consideration of H.R. 1540, the National Defense Authorization Act for FY2012. Yesterday, the House finished general debate. Today, it’s going to begin work on a good 152 amendments.
The Defense Authorization Act is an annual bill that sets spending levels and defense policy for the next fiscal year. This year’s House bill has a few especially troubling provisions, such as section 533, which requires each of the Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs to sign off on DADT repeal before it could be implemented, section 1034, an vast expansion of the authorization of military force, section 1039, which prevents transfers of Guantanamo detainees to the United States, and section 1055, which limits the President’s ability to comply with New START.
H.R. 1540 was reported by the House Armed Services Committee on May 11, with only Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA) voting against it. Yesterday, the White House indicated [PDF] that while it supported House passage of H.R. 1540, President Obama would likely not sign the final bill unless a number of the more offensive provisions were excluded.
If you want more details on the bill, check out the legislative text or the committee report. (Be advised that the report is written by House Republicans.)
A few notes on how the floor consideration process will work:
- The House isn’t expected to get through all 152 amendments today. (And for that matter, not all of the amendments will be offered.) Amendment consideration will conclude tomorrow, and then we’ll have the vote on final passage.
- Each amendment gets 10 minutes of debate — 5 for, and 5 against. (Unless the amendment is non-controversial, in which case it just gets 10 minutes of praise.)
- Either party’s Armed Services Committee leadership can move an “en bloc amendment” consisting of a bunch of amendments that are considered together to save time. Those get 20 minutes of debate.
So, under the fold, here’s the list of amendments that the House is considering. All links to amendment text are PDFs, and all descriptions come from the sponsors of the amendment. To save space, I’m going to try to only stay about ten to fifteen amendments ahead of where the House is right now. If you want the full list, the Rules Committee Democrats have you covered.
The first series of votes involved Amendments No. 2, 12, 24, 25, 27, 28, 26, 30-32, and 37.
| Amendment | Summary | Disposition |
|---|---|---|
| Wittman #1 | Would allow the Secretary of the Navy to enter into multiyear contracts for the start of major construction of the Ford-class aircraft carriers designated CVN 79 and CVN 80 and for the construction of major components, modules, or other structures related to such carriers subject to appropriations. Allows the Secretary of the Navy to enter into a contract for the construction of FORD Class Carriers CVN 79 and CVN 80 to be funded on a five year centers. | Adopted |
| Woolsey #2 | Would eliminate the availability of funds for procurement of the Navy and Air Force V-22 Osprey aircraft. | Rejected (83-334) |
| Tonko #3 | Would encourage the Medical Research program to use RNA technology when conducting research for breast and prostate cancer, battlefield infectious diseases, and rare diseases. | En Bloc #1 |
| Hayworth #4 | Would express the sense of Congress that active matrix organic light emitting diode (OLED) technology displays are an integral factor in reducing the size, weight, and energy consumption of both dismounted and mounted system of the Armed Forces, and that OLED technology is a Defense-critical manufacturing capability. | En Bloc #1 |
| Schiff #5 | Would require the Secretary of Defense to submit health assessment reports to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and House of Representatives when waste is disposed of in open-air burn pits. Each report will include: description of short and long term health risks; methodology used to determine the health risks; and the assessment of the operational and health risks when making the determination to continue the use of open-air burn pits for waste disposal. | En Bloc #1 |
| Carter #6 | Would expand existing military whistleblower protections, from retaliatory personnel actions, to include communications by Armed Forces Members of ideologically based threats or actions of another Member that the reporting Member reasonably believes could be counterproductive or detrimental to United States interests or security. | Adopted |
| Miller (MI) #7 | Would designate the Chief of the National Guard Bureau as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. | En Bloc #1 |
| Schock #8 | Would allow a service member with a minor dependent (child under the age of 19) to request a deferment of a deployment to a combat zone if their spouse is currently deployed to a combat zone.) | En Bloc #1 |
| Baca #9 | Would direct the Secretary of Defense to coordinate with each military department to enhance current suicide prevention information sharing services for members of the Armed Forces. Coordinated efforts would occur at various stages of training from their initial enlistment or appointment through their final retirement or separation. | En Bloc #1 |
| Cohen #10 | Would add the text of HR 1046, the honor the written intent of our servicemember heroes (HONOR the WISH) Act, to the bill. Would remove those limitations to allow servicemembers more freedom when making this very personal decision. | En Bloc #1 |
| Becerra #11 | Would provide funding for the United States Military Academy, United States Naval Academy, and the United States Air Force Academy for diversity recruitment activities. | En Bloc #1 |
| Hunter #12 | Would create a five-year pilot program to provide opportunity scholarships to dependent children with special education needs. Opportunity scholarships are set at $7,500 a year and would be available to approximately 250 children under the pilot program for the purpose of attending a private, public or charter school of choice. The Department of Defense would administer the program, in coordination with the Secretary of Education. | Rejected (203-213) |
| McNerney #13 | Would express the Sense of Congress that the Secretary of Defense should work with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to ensure coordination with the Office of Service Member Affairs to provide financial counseling for service members and their families. | En Bloc #1 |
| McNerney #14 | Would strike and replaces section 591 of the bill, which makes it more difficult for Guard and Reserve components to engage in military training missions that also provide assistance to local communities. Would increase to $20 million the amount that can be obligated for civil-military training operations. | En Bloc #1 |
| King (NY) #15 | Would direct the Secretary of Defense to provide for a program under which members of the Armed Forces of the United States on active duty and serving in Iraq or Afghanistan or hospitalized at a facility under the jurisdiction of the Armed Forces of the United States as a result of a disease or injury incurred as a result of service in Iraq or Afghanistan would receive one-free postal voucher per month to be transferred to loved ones to send packages to the soldiers at no cost. | En Bloc #1 |
| Ruppersberger #16 | Would authorize the Secretary of Defense to extend United States Central Command Rest and Recuperation benefits to U.S. Armed Forces assigned to the Egypt Multi-National Force and Observors Mission. | En Bloc #1 |
| Carter #17 | Would deem Members of the Armed Forces, and DoD civilian employees who were killed or wounded in the November 5th, 2009 Fort Hood attack to have been killed or wounded in a combat zone as the result of an action of an enemy of the United States. This makes such victims eligible for combat-related benefits, compensations, and awards with the exception of any member of the Armed Forces whose death or injury was the result of willful misconduct. | En Bloc #1 |
| Carson (IN) #19 | Would direct the Department of Defense to provide mental health assessments to service members during deployment. When possible, these assessments would include review of all past health records originated by the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs. | Adopted |
| Sessions #21 | Would create a pilot program for treatment outside of military facilities for members of the armed forces and veterans affected by traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder. | En Bloc #1 |
| Sarbanes #24 | Would strike Section 937 of the bill relating to Modification of Temporary Suspension of Public-Private Competitions for Conversion of Department of Defense Functions to Contractor Performance. | Rejected (198-225) |
| Murphy (CT) #25 | Would give manufacturers the opportunity to provide information to DoD regarding how their bid for a contract will affect domestic employment. It allows DoD to take this information into consideration, but does not mandate that DoD consider this information when awarding the contract. | Rejected (208-212) |
| Cole #27 | Would preclude an executive agency from requiring an entity submitting an offer for a Federal contract to disclose political contributions as a condition of participation. | Adopted (261-163) |
| Garamendi #28 | Would require the Secretary to ensure that each contractor of the Department of Defense performing a prime contract at a military installation in the United States to set aside 40 percent, by dollar value, of its subcontracting work under the contract for local qualified subcontractors. For purposes of the preceding sentence, a subcontractor shall be considered local if its headquarters is within 60 miles of the military installation. | Rejected (168-256) |
| Waters #29 | Would provide a preference for potential DOD contactors that carry out certain investment and philanthropic activities to bolster education and training in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Would also require the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a study of the implementation of the DOD’s current programs for providing assistance to certain educational institutions. The amendment does not create a quota or establish hard-line criteria for awarding contracts – these activities will be one of many criteria DOD can consider in awarding contracts. | En Bloc #1 |
| Maloney #26 | Would require public disclosure of information submitted under Section 847 of this act. | Rejected (176-248) |
| Himes #30 | Would require any savings as a result of shifting to civilian employees from contractors within the Department of Defense be directed towards deficit reduction. | Rejected (184-240) |
| Jackson Lee (TX) #31 | Would require the Secretary of Defense, prior to awarding of defense contracts to private contractors, to conduct an outreach program to benefit minority and women-owned businesses. | Rejected (191-232) |
| Andrews #32 | Would temporarily suspend the implementation and enforcement of workforce management and sourcing policies pursuant to the DOD’s “efficiency initiative”. | Rejected (178-246) |
| Lee #33 | Would return Defense Department spending to 2008 level, with exemptions for personnel and health accounts. | Withdrawn |
| Hayworth #34 | Would add a Sense of Congress that the Department of Defense shall not convert from private sector to public sector performance any functions or positions that are not inherently governmental in nature. | En Bloc #1 |
| Cuellar #35 | Would express the sense of Congress that the Department of Defense should continue to share intelligence and technology with the Department of Homeland Security to address national security threats on the southwest border from transnational criminal organizations, including the testing on the border of surveillance technologies being considered for combat operations, and directs the Department of Defense to brief Congress on programs to build Mexico’s capacity to combat transnational criminal organizations. | En Bloc #1 |
| Hunter #36 | Direct the Secretary of the Navy to name the next available ship after Marine Corps Sergeant Rafael Peralta. Sergeant Peralta, who grew up in Southeast San Diego, was nominated for the Medal of Honor for smothering a grenade with his body during combat in Fallujah, Iraq. He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross instead. A team of specialists, which included pathologists and other experts, conducted an investigation at the direction of the Secretary of Defense and determined that Peralta did not consciously pull the grenade into his body. This conclusion contradicts the eye-witness accounts of the Marines fighting alongside Peralta, as well as the recommendation put forward by Marine Corps leadership. There have been 11 instances, going back to 1989, where Congress has included in legislation that was signed into law how a Navy ship should be named. | En Bloc #1 |
| Richmond #37 | Would prevent the payment of certain incentives with respect to a Navy shipyard in Avondale, Louisiana, saving the Department of Defense up to $310 million. | Rejected (177-246) |
| Mica #38 | Would require that the rules of engagement allow any military service personnel assigned to duty in a designated hostile fire area to have rules of engagement that fully protects their right to proactively defend themselves from hostile actions. | Vote postponed |
| McKeon En Bloc #1 | Amendments No. 3-5, 7-11, 13-17, 21, 29, and 34-36, with modifications. | Adopted |
| McKeon En Bloc #2 | Amendments No. 44, 45, 51, 52, 58, 68, 73, 75-83, 98, and 99, with modifications. | Adopted |
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