U.S. Defense Bill Revised To Meet New Targets

15 Nov 2011 By KATE BRANNEN DefenseNews

The Senate Armed Services Committee has revised its version of the defense authorization bill for 2012, cutting an additional $21 billion to meet spending caps mandated by this summer's Budget Control Act.

On Nov. 15, the committee unanimously passed the new bill, which cuts a total of $27 billion and freezes defense spending at 2011 levels. It will now go to the full Senate for consideration.

In June, the Senate panel passed a version of the bill that cut $6 billion from the Defense Department's budget.

In August, Congress passed and the president signed into law the Budget Control Act of 2011, which placed new caps on discretionary spending for 2012.

The funding authorized in the committee's original bill did not fit within these new targets.

In September, the Senate Appropriations Committee passed a defense spending bill that also met the spending caps required by the Budget Control Act. To meet the targets, the Senate appropriations committee trimmed 580 programs in the Pentagon's base budget.

Meanwhile, the House passed its defense spending and authorization bills months before the Budget Control Act was signed into law. Neither of those bills meet the new spending limits required by the debt ceiling agreement.

The revised Senate authorization bill also includes new language on detainees, an issue that has been holding up debate of the bill for months.

It addresses some of the White House's concerns over laws that would regulate who can detain and interrogate terrorists.

"Under the modified provision, the Executive Branch has the flexibility to keep a covered detainee in civilian custody pursuant to a national security determination, or to transfer a military detainee for trial in the civilian courts," a statement by the committee said. "The Administration agreed to have military custody apply to al Qaeda members captured outside the United States (subject to a national security waiver) but disagrees with the committee decision not to preclude the application of the provision inside the United States."