House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) is set to introduce a bill that would allocate $610 billion in defense budget for fiscal year 2017, Politico reported Thursday.
Jeremy Herb writes Thornberry’s version of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2017 is in line with President Barack Obama’s FY 2017 budget request and would move $18 billion from the overseas contingency operations budget to the Defense Department’s base funding.
The proposed $18 billion would be in addition to the $5 billion in OCO funds DoD has allocated for base requirements, bringing the total of the OCO-backed base budget to $23 billion, according to Politico.
The Pentagon uses the OCO budget to support military operations in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Joe Gould also reports for Defense News that Thornberry said his version of the NDAA would force the next president to file a supplemental bill for the war funds or OCO budget.
The HASC’s defense policy bill that is set to be introduced in a week would allocate $3 billion in budget for the procurement of 11 more F-35s and 14 additional F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter jets as well as $2 billion in funds for the U.S. Navy’s shipbuilding operations.
The proposed legislation would also authorize 27,000 active-duty service personnel and 25,000 reservists, Gould reports.
