The House voted 309-118 Wednesday to pass a potential $1.1 trillion budget package to fund the federal government for the remaining months of fiscal 2017, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.Kelsey Snell writes the Senate is expected to vote on the omnibus spending bill before the week-long continuing resolution expires Friday.
The spending package that would fund government operations through September proposes at least $15 billion in funds for defense and $1.5 billion in border security spending, the report added.
Valerie Insinna also reports for Defense News the proposed fiscal 2017 spending measure would allocate $1.338 billion in research and development funds for the U.S. Air Force’s B-21 bomber program, down from $1.358 billion the service branch originally requested for the program.
The bill also requires the Defense Department’s inspector general to review the B-21 program and classifies the bomber initiative as a “congressional special interest item†that would provide lawmakers authority over “transfer of funds and prior approval reprogramming procedures,†according to budget documents obtained by Defense News.
The proposed legislation would also allocate $75 million in additional funds for a program to replace the Air Force’s fleet of UH-1N Huey helicopters, Defense News said in a separate report Wednesday.
The proposed budget increase would bring the total funding for the Huey aircraft replacement program to $93 million, up from $18 million the Obama administration requested in 2016, the report added.
