Defense Spending Bills on Tap

By: fedweek

Among the next priorities for the Senate will be both the appropriations and authorization bill for the Defense Department. The authorization bill was drafted months ago and taken up for floor voting but later pulled back because of controversies over Iraq policy; the appropriations bill is being crafted this week. The authorization bill contains language restricting the national security personnel system that DoD is working to put in place, but the more important of the two on that score may turn out to be the appropriations bill. The House version of that measure would completely cut off funding for NSPS. The Bush administration strongly opposes restrictions on NSPS but for political reasons could find it hard to veto DoD spending bills during a time of war.