The House has passed its version of the annual DoD authorization bill (HR-1960) that would reject the administration’s request for another round of base closings—which approved could result in the loss or displacement of many thousands of civilian DoD employees. In comments on the bill, the White House said another BRAC round would "properly align the military’s infrastructure with the needs of our evolving force structure, which is critical to ensuring that limited resources are available for the highest priorities of the warfighter and national security." Pentagon officials continue to make similar arguments in hearings and speeches but the Senate too now has drafted its bill, which also would prevent another BRAC round. It is not expected to vote for several more weeks. Both bills contain only relatively minor provisions regarding civilian personnel policies, mainly involving several narrow hiring authorities and extensions of some long-running policies involving RIF benefits and employees working in combat zones. During floor voting, the House meanwhile rejected an amendment that would have allowed DoD to start cost comparison studies under OMB Circular A-76 that could lead to contracting out jobs. There has been a government-wide moratorium on starting such studies for several years.