Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Arizona) has said lawmakers in both chambers of Congress could wrap up the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act “very soon,” Defense News reported Wednesday.

Joe Gould writes McCain met with committee ranking member Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island) and stated that policy provisions and defense funding levels remain the key points of negotiation over the annual bill.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) said the 2017 NDAA will not be finalized until December after the Thanksgiving recess, Gould reported.

Thornberry added the Congress should avoid a long-term continuing resolution since the new administration can request for supplemental defense funds if needed, the report stated.

McCain, Thornberry, Reed and Sen. Adam Smith (D-Washington) are working to reconcile House and Senate versions of the NDAA that include different approaches to the emergency Overseas Contingency Operations account.

President-elect Donald Trump has proposed to increase the U.S. Navy’s fleet of 272 ships to 350 as part of his plan to generate jobs and help the government deter conflicts and fight potential adversaries, the Navy Times reported Tuesday.

According to an October campaign memo, Trump has vowed to fund modernization work on the service branch’s Ticonderoga-class cruisers and make investments in Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and submarines, David B. Larter writes.

The incoming administration also plans to build up shipyards, support the maintenance of warships and create a training pipeline for shipyard workers, the report said.

“Mr. Trump’s plan will require a significant partnership with a defense industrial base that has been strained by years of significant cuts to shipbuilding and ship repair,” according to the memo.

Bryan Clark, an analyst with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said the incoming administration could reach its fleet size target of 350 ships and increase the number of sailors to at least 380,000 by the 2030s, according to the report.

The European Union on Tuesday decided to increase the fiscal 2017 budget of the European Defense Agency by 1.6 percent to approximately $33 million, Reuters reported Tuesday.

Robin Emmott writes the decision marks the first time since 2010 that the U.K. has not opposed a budget hike at the EDA, which helps member countries build aircraft and other military assets, and comes a day after the EU agreed on a new defense plan that seeks to reduce reliance on U.S. military support.

EU officials said the budget increase suggests that the U.K., which decided to leave the EU, may continue to collaborate with the EU on defense matters amid security threats posed by Russia and the Islamic State militant organization, the report added.

Urmas Paet, an Estonian liberal and member of the European Parliament, has called on the EU to designate a defense and security commissioner within the European Commission in an effort to reduce the responsibilities of EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, according to a report by Nikolaj Nielsen for EUobserver.

Mogherini “is doing everything, the whole world, all the foreign policy, all the conflicts, all the defense, security and so on,” Paet told reporters in Brussels Wednesday.

Paet, who is also former minister of foreign affairs in Estonia, proposed the new defense commissioner post in a report that aims to form a European defense union in an effort to advance research efforts, raise defense spending and lift administrative hurdles on troop movements, Nielsen reports.