Amendments of Interest in House Defense Authorization
Travis | Jun 23, 2009 |
0 On Wednesday and/or Thursday, the House of Representatives will take up consideration of the fiscal year 2010 Defense Authorization bill. Amendments had to be submitted by last night. Now the Rules Committee will sort through and decide which amendments should go to the floor for votes.
Here are some of the most interesting amendments. Remember that not all of these will come up for votes.
F-22 Raptor
Edwards, Donna (MD) #101 - Would prohibit funds to be appropriated for procurement or research, test, development, and evaluation of F-22 fighter aircraft.
Frank (MA) #19 - Would provide $368.8 million for defense environmental cleanup activities offset by an equal reduction in funding for advance procurement of F-22 fighter aircraft.
Tierney (MA) #115 - Would strike $368.8 million for the advance procurement of additional F-22s.
Missile Defense
Franks (AZ)/Griffith (AL) #80 - Would provide an additional $80 million for a ground-based midcourse defense system at Fort Greely, Alaska, and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Offsetting reductions are taken from international materials protection and cooperation, global threat reduction initiative, and North Korean anti-nuclear program initiatives.
Franks (AZ)/Cantor (VA)/Sessions (TX)/Broun (GA)/Roskam (IL) #81 - Would provide that it is U.S. policy to continue missile defense testing. It would increase funding for the Missile Defense Agency by $1.2 billion. Offsetting reductions would come from defense environmental cleanup.
Tierney (MA) #113 - Would direct the Secretary of Defense to commission a report from the JASON Defense Advisory Panel on the technical and scientific feasibility of U.S. missile defense discrimination capabilities as designed and conceived.
Woolsey (CA) #21 - Would cut $6.3 billion from the missile defense systems account; the remaining $3 billion could be used for testing only. The amendment would apply the $6.3 billion evenly between the cooperative threat reduction program and the BRAC clean-up account.
Detainees
Conaway (TX) #4 - Would exempt from FOIA any photographs of detainees in military custody captured, detained, or engaged by U.S. Armed Forces in operations outside of the United States. It would apply to photographs taken between September 11, 2001, and January 22, 2009, if the Defense Secretary certifies that disclosure of the photos would endanger American lives. The certification can be renewed every 3 years.
Forbes (VA) #35 - Would prohibit funds from being authorized to transfer, release, or incarcerate individuals detained at Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as of May 19, 2009, to or within the United States.
Victory in Iraq
King, Steve (IA) #18 - Would express the sense of Congress that the "surge strategy" in Iraq worked and that a definable victory in Iraq has been achieved.
Exit Strategy in Afghanistan
McGovern (MA)/Jones (NC)/Pingree (ME) #2 - Would require the Defense Secretary to report to Congress, not later than December 31, 2009, on a U.S. exit strategy for U.S. military forces in Afghanistan participating in Operation Enduring Freedom.
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
Polis (CO) #74 - Would amend Don't Ask, Don't Tell with a policy of nondiscrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
Security Matters, Iraq & Afghanistan, Congress, F-22, Missile Defense (all tags)
