House moves to negotiate DoD bill

The U.S. House of Representatives moved Sept. 4 to begin negotiations with the Senate on a Defense Department funding bill that the upper chamber paired with domestic appropriations. In its first day back from August recess, the House approved by voice vote a motion to go to conference with the Senate on the $675B defense bill. Lawmakers are hoping to approve a final measure by the day before FY 2019 begins on Oct. 1. If it happens, it’d be an accomplishment that hasn’t been met in nine years. But, of course, there will be multiple complicating factors standing in the way. Also, both chambers of Congress only plan to be in session for 11 days between now and October. In order to gain bipartisan support for the dueling spending measures, the Senate paired the DoD bill with the departments of Labor, Education, and Health and Human Services. The Senate passed the combined $854B bill in August. Senators on both sides of the aisle have said they want to keep the two bills together, a move that could complicate negotiations. The House has not passed its version of domestic spending. If the conference committee gets the deal done, President Trump has threatened to shut down the government if he doesn’t get funding for a proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Congressional leaders are to meet with the president Sept. 5 in an ongoing effort to persuade him to postpone a shut down until after the November mid-term elections. Both the House and the Senate proposals would fund a 2.6 percent military pay raise. The House bill would also provide $9.4B for 93 F-35 jets - 16 more than requested, and four more than in the Senate bill. Also, the House bill would allocate $22.7B for a dozen new Navy ships - two more than requested, and one less than in the Senate bill. The two extra ships in the House bill are Littoral Combat Ships, which Congress continues to buy despite the Navy’s plan to transition away from it, so that Austal USA and Mariette Marine shipyards can keep working and keep pace for future orders. (Source: The Hill 09/04/18) Gulf Coast Note: Austal USA shipyard builds the Independence LCS. Marinette (Wis.) Marine builds the Freedom variant.