Brown expects new defense bill to be passed shortly after Congress resumes

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Neither the House nor the Senate are in session in August. The Senate is expected to resume work in Washington, D.C. Sept. 5, with the House following a week later.

The two versions of the defense bill will be reconciled, Brown also emphasized in a phone call with reporters. A conference committee seeks to resolve the differences between what the House and Senate passed. The two chambers must then vote on that reconciled measure before it goes to President Biden for his signature.

Said Brown: “We’re going to get it done.”

“We know this is a national security bill, we’ve done it every year for literally decades,” he added.

Referring to U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Dayton and chairman of the House Select Committee on Intelligence, the senator also said: “He has been mature. He has been the adult in the room.”

The House voted 219-210 in mid-July to pass its version of the NDAA, with all but four Democrats opposing the bill, establishing a national defense budget of $886 billion for fiscal 2024.

The House-approved NDAA blocks a Biden administration policy reimbursing members of the military for abortion-related expenses.

The Senate passed its version of the bill, also with funding of $886 billion, with a vote of 86 to 11.

Both the House and Senate bills include funding for design of a new office complex for acquisition workers on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The Senate approved $19.5 million for the planning and design of phase V of the Wright Patterson Acquisition Management complex, Brown’s office noted.

“In the past year, Wright-Patt has added new operational missions such as National Space Intelligence Center and the 76th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Squadron, reaffirming the critical national security work being done by the men and women in the Dayton area,” Turner said in June after the House passed its NDAA. “The National Defense Authorization Act is among the most consequential pieces of legislation that Congress takes up every year, and this year’s NDAA includes several key initiatives for Wright-Patt that will further grow our local economy and bolster the Miami Valley’s defense industry.”