The full House Appropriations committee finished today its markup of the 2005 Defense Appropriations bill, sending it one step closer to a floor vote. The full committee made two amendments to the subcommittee's bill, most notably an amendment introduced by Rep. David Obey requiring the President to submit to Congress a report on the long term costs of the military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
According to the Appropriations committee website:
The fiscal year 2005 Defense Appropriations bill reported by the Subcommittee on Defense will contain $416.9 billion in new discretionary spending authority for the Department of Defense for fiscal year 2005. This amount includes $25 billion requested by the President for early fiscal year 2005 costs associated with operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The remaining $391.1 billion reflects an increase of $24.3 billion over amounts provided in the fiscal year 2004 Defense Appropriations Act.
The bill includes, among many other things, $9.7 billion for missile defense (an increase of $632 million over FY04, but $458 million less than the administration's request). The Bush administration intends to deploy a missile defense system before the end of the fiscal year despite reports that the system is untested.
It will be interesting to see if what, if any, amendments will be ruled in order during the floor debate on this bill.
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