Despite major differences between the House and Senate versions of the National Defense Authorization Act, authorizers are going to try to quickly pass a final bill before the fiscal year ends, according to a report.
Congress is back this week on a five-week summer recess, and Defense News reports that staff for both the House and Senate Armed Services committee have been working on noncontroversial issues on the defense policy bill in order to let conferees focus on the divisive issues.
Congress has only 13 working days left in September to get a deal passed by Oct. 1, when the current fiscal year ends. However, leaders reportedly are hopeful that they can draft a compromise conference report by Sept. 19 and get it to the floor days later.
Congress has passed an NDAA on time for the past 58 years, but the gulf between the House and Senate versions of the bill threaten to end that streak. The House version was passed by a party line vote of 220-197, and at $733 billion was $17 billion short of the Senate’s bill.
