{"id":32905,"date":"2018-09-13T17:49:42","date_gmt":"2018-09-13T17:49:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/09\/13\/pentagon-set-to-win-first-on-time-budget-since-2008\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:18:05","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:18:05","slug":"pentagon-set-to-win-first-on-time-budget-since-2008","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/congress\/2018\/09\/13\/pentagon-set-to-win-first-on-time-budget-since-2008\/","title":{"rendered":"Pentagon set to win first on-time budget since 2008"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 The U.S. Congress is poised to pass the defense budget<\/a> on time for the first time in a decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A bipartisan group of House<\/a> and Senate <\/a>lawmakers formally announced a deal Thursday for a $674 billion defense appropriations bill, packaged with funding for the departments of Education, Health and Human Services, Labor and other government agencies, or Labor-HHS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A joint conference committee finished reconciling the two chambers’ bills, teeing up a compromise report to pass before the start of the fiscal year, Oct. 1. If successful, it would avert a partial government shutdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Defense and Labor-HHS bills account for the lion\u2019s share of discretionary spending, said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala. \u201cPairing these two bills was the lynchpin of our strategy to pass appropriations bills in the Senate. One, the top priority for Republicans; the other, the top priority for Democrats. Both important to all Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bill contains a rescission of $3.8 billion in 2018 funds the Pentagon asked for last year but could not be spent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But most details of the bill were not immediately released, such as how it reconciled competing visions for the JSTARS<\/a> ground surveillance, command and control plane, and a divide on the number of F-35<\/a> Joint Strike Fighters. The final bill is expected to be made public before the end of the week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The House is scheduled to recess Thursday until Sept. 25, when it will have only four days in session to approve the package. The Senate will have next week and the week after.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A good sign for its passage of defense\/Labor-HHS \u201cminibus\u201d is that conferees rebuffed controversial policy riders from both sides of the aisle, lawmakers said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am also pleased that this bill is free of controversial poison pill riders,\u201d said Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. \u201cWe did our job and focused on the task at hand, which is making responsible, thoughtful decisions about how to fund these federal agencies. This is how it should be done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The defense\/Labor-HHS \u201cminibus\u201d is next in the queue after Congress\u2019s first 2019 \u201cminibus,\u201d which includes money for next year\u2019s Veterans Affairs and military construction funding, along with energy and water programs and the legislative branch. The bill also includes a boost<\/a> for nuclear weapons funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the rest of government, the defense\/Labor-HHS conference report includes a continuing resolution through Dec. 7, to allow Congress to complete work on spending bills.<\/p>\n\n\n\t