U.S. Army Gen. Joseph Votel, head of Central Command, said his visits to Centcom’s area of responsibility has three objectives that focus on fostering partnerships to address regional issues, DoD News reported Wednesday.

Cheryl Pellerin writes Votel’s AOR visits seek to understand regional complexities through partners’ perspectives; foster relations with partners and learn how the command’s headquarters can aid forces in the area as well as inform Washington leaders on Centcom matters.

“We don’t do anything by ourselves here, so it is extraordinarily important to meet face to face with all our partners,” Votel told reporters during his visit to the area.

Votel also addressed the difference of counter-terrorism efforts against the Islamic State militant organization in Iraq and Syria, Pellerin wrote.

The Centcom commander said anti-IS group operations in Iraq are backed by the government while the situation in Syria is influenced by other “regional powers.”

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has said he would advise President Barack Obama to veto the final version of the fiscal year 2017 defense policy bill if it contains provisions that would underfund the Defense Department’s overseas war budget, DoD News reported Tuesday.

Lisa Ferdinando writes Carter said at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space Exposition in Maryland that he has concerns with both versions of the proposed National Defense Authorization Act in Congress.

He said the bill contains a “raid on war funding that risks stability and gambles with war funding, jeopardizes readiness, and rejects key judgments of the department.”

Idrees Ali also reported for Reuters that Carter also noted that the Senate’s defense authorization bill has proposed to remove the defense undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics position in order to set up separate offices for research and business management.

Carter said the move to cancel that position currently held by Frank Kendall would separate manufacturing from engineering and research.

“Separating these functions makes no sense, as procurement and sustainment costs are controlled by decisions made during development,” he added.

The defense chief also called the House’s defense policy version as “another road to nowhere with uncertain chances of becoming a law,” according to a report by Hope Hodge Seck on DoD Buzz.

Carter said the House version would undo the Bipartisan Budget Act and compromise readiness due to a lack of measure to sustain training ranges in the long term, Seck wrote.

The full House Appropriations Committee has cleared by a voice vote a defense policy bill that would allocate $517.1 billion in discretionary budget and $58.6 billion in overseas contingency operations funds for fiscal year 2017.

The committee said Tuesday the proposed FY 2017 defense authorization legislation would direct approximately $16 billion from OCO funds to the Defense Department’s base budget.

The bill shows a $3 billion increase from the enacted discretionary budget for FY 2016 and contains amendments introduced by Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-New Jersey) and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-California).

Lee’s proposed amendment would call for Congress to “debate and determine whether or not to authorize the use of military force against” the Islamic State militant organization.

The vote comes a week after the House Appropriations Committee’s defense subpanel introduced the bill.

The proposed legislation would authorize $120.8 billion in total funds to procure new weapons systems and related equipment, $70.8 billion for research and development initiatives and $209.2 billion for operations and maintenance programs in support of military readiness efforts, according to the bill’s summary.