The House Appropriations Committee took up a bill that allocates $81.6 billion to finance military facility construction projects and veterans’ benefits programs for fiscal 2017, Defense News reported Thursday.Joe Gould writes that spending plan is about $1.8 billion more than the amount Congress authorized for the current fiscal year.
The House adjourned for a two-week recess without taking up an FY 2017Â budget resolution, Gould reports.
The report said a floor vote on the blueprint has been stalled by House Republicans’ debate about whether they should stick to a $1.07-trillion government spending deal that President Obama and then-House Speaker John Boehner agreed upon in late 2015.
Gould cited disagreements over the use of the Defense Department‘s overseas contingency operations account to fund military programs.
