WASHINGTON -- The House on Thursday approved a $579 billion defense spending bill that offers a slight pay raise to U.S. troops but reflects deep divisions on budget priorities and whether President Barack Obama needs new war powers to fight Islamic State militants.
The vote was 278-149 in favor of the bill, which drew stiff opposition from Democrats because it uses a war-fighting account to raise defense spending next year. Arkansas' four Republican representatives voted for passage.
The measure gives Obama roughly all the money he requested for defense but does so by increasing the war-fighting account -- which is not subject to congressional spending caps -- by almost $40 billion. The president says he will veto spending bills that do not deal with spending limits agreed to in previous budget deals and treat defense and nondefense expenditures equally.
"This is a strong defense bill that provides our troops with the resources they need and the raise they have earned," House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said. "It reflects the reality of a dangerous world, including resources to combat cyberattacks."
He noted that only 43 Democrats voted for the bill.
"This is part of Democrats' scheme to oppose anything and everything -- even a pay raise for our troops -- in order to extract more money for the IRS and the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency]," he said. "Democrats are playing a dangerous and selfish game with our national security."
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California said Democrats strongly support national defense but want the spending caps lifted. They oppose using the emergency war-fighting account because it gives the military money for only one year.
"The defense appropriation bill is bad budgeting and harmful to military planning -- perpetuating uncertainty and instability in the defense budget, and damaging the military's ability to plan and prepare for the future," she said.
Before the final vote, the House rejected an amendment to force lawmakers to vote by the end of March on new war powers to fight Islamic State militants.
The vote was 231-196 against the amendment, a vote that underscored the lack of political will in both the House and Senate on the bitterly disputed issue. The four representatives from Arkansas voted against the amendment.
Introduced by Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, the measure would have required Congress to debate and vote on a new authorization for the use of military force by March 31. The amendment called for banning the use of funds in the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria unless Congress passed a new authorization.
"Ten months into an undeclared war against ISIS, Congress yet again dodged its responsibility to authorize the use of force," Schiff said after the vote, using an acronym for the Islamic State. "While our pilots and special forces risk it all, Congress refuses to do its job. Congressional abdication of our responsibility to declare war, or to deny authorization for war, sets a terrible precedent and shifts war-making powers substantially and inexorably towards the executive" branch.
On Wednesday, Obama ordered the deployment of up to 450 more American troops to Iraq in an effort to reverse battlefield losses to the Islamic State. Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., are pushing for a new authorization for the use of military force in the fight against the Islamic State.
The defense bill itself received bipartisan backing when separated from the broader budget debate. The measure provides $8.4 billion for 65 next-generation F-35 fighter aircraft, eight more than requested by the Pentagon, as well as $16.9 billion toward nine new Navy ships. It also prevents the retirement of the A-10 aircraft that protects ground troops. Men and women in uniform would get a 2.3 percent pay raise, a percentage point higher than requested by Obama.
The defense measure also boosts funding for procurement of National Guard equipment well above the Pentagon's request, drawing a protest from the administration, and also would block the transfer of Apache helicopters from the Army National Guard to the regular Army.
The companion Senate version of the bill easily advanced through the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday morning but faces a filibuster next week as Democrats seek to force Republicans to the negotiating table to boost domestic accounts.
The $576 billion Senate defense bill would boost spending on the F-35 fighter and add funds to speed replacement of a Russian-made engine used to launch U.S. satellites.
The panel voted 27-3 on Thursday for its version of the annual spending bill, which would increase the number of F-35s made by Lockheed Martin Corp. to 67 from the 57 requested in fiscal 2016 for the costliest U.S. weapons system.
It would shift $730.3 million to buy six additional F-35s of the Marine Corps model. It also would add $97.6 million that, when combined with other previously approved but unspent funds, would buy four additional Air Force models, according to the bill report.
The Senate measure for the year that begins Oct. 1 also would add about $978 million for 12 F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet jets made by Boeing Co., rejecting the Pentagon's plan to end Navy purchases of the plane.
The panel added $143.6 million to an $84.3 million request for the Air Force to accelerate development of a replacement for Russian RD-180 engines used to launch national security satellites. Lawmakers have pushed to end dependence on the imported engines since Russia's intervention in Ukraine soured relations with the U.S.
Like the House appropriations measure, the Senate bill would provide funding to keep the A-10 close-support aircraft flying, defying a Pentagon plan to retire the jets.
Overall, the committee would shift $2.89 billion from other accounts to add to the $106.9 billion requested for procurement.
Like the House defense appropriations bill and the House and Senate versions of the annual defense authorization measure, the Senate spending bill would sidestep budget caps by shifting money into an account for war fighting that's exempt from the limits. The Senate appropriators shifted $36.5 billion.
Information for this article was contributed by Deb Riechmann of The Associated Press; and by Tony Capaccio and Erik Wasson of Bloomberg News.
A Section on 06/12/2015