House Passes $696B Defense Policy Bill

AP via SFGate ^ | 12/12/7 | ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press Writer

[SmithL]

WASHINGTON, (AP) -- The House passed a defense policy bill on Wednesday that would authorize $696 billion in military programs, including $189 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The measure, which covers the budget year that began Oct. 1, does not send money to the Pentagon. But it is considered a crucial policy measure because it guides companion spending legislation and dictates the acquisition and management of weapons programs.

The Senate intended to follow suit this week and send the bill to President Bush, who is expected to sign it. The House vote was 370-49.

"It's good for our troops, good for our families," said Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, which wrote the bill. "It will help improve readiness for our armed forces and bring new oversight to the Department of Defense in areas where oversight was sorely needed in the past."

The legislation includes a 3.5 percent pay raise authorized for uniformed service personnel and a guarantee that combat veterans receive swift health evaluations. It also would block fee increases proposed as part of the military's Tricare health care system.

The bill has several provisions intended to increase the oversight of contractors and the rebuilding of Iraq and Afghanistan. More specifically, it would require that private security contractors working in a war zone comply with military regulations and orders issued by commanders.

It would establish an auditing system to oversee reconstruction contracts in Afghanistan that would be modeled after the special watchdog for Iraq reconstruction.

Final action on the bill comes as Democrats struggle for a way to pay for combat operations overseas without appearing to support Bush's policies in Iraq.

[rednesss]

The same people who would push for defense spending to be tied to GDP would be the first one’s wailing about it during a recession or depression.

[rednesss]

Here's a more recent list, Boeing is still #2 behind Lockheed Martin.

http://www.defensenews.com/index.php?S=07top100

Notice the % of income from defense, Boeing gets 50% of its money from defense.

[Almondjoy]

Fraud & Waste goes hand in hand with the government.

Saying we should spend less because of fraud & waste is absurd.

Tell me first how we can possibly stop humans ability to do bad things and I’ll tell you then we can start to spend less money.

[CodeToad]

“Tell me first how we can possibly stop humans ability to do bad things and I’ll tell you then we can start to spend less money.”

I see, you think we should accept bad behavior as it is natural. Great. Make murder legal, too, as we will never stop it and should just accept it.

I totally disagree that we should not demand reasonable budgets because there is some kind of natural desire for FWA. There is FWA because there are no controls over it. Decrease the budgets and make people spend wisely. It is amazing to watch people act responsibly when they have nothing to waste as they must still get the job done.

[Almondjoy]

Accept bad behavior? I think you got the wrong signal.

I was saying that because we CANT accept bad behavior that behavior will continue to be a drain on our budget.

You’re assuming that all people are reasonable. Murder is not a reasonable act.. terrorism is not a reasonable act. Because there are people in the world that are unreasonable that is why we have to have laws in place that stop people from murdering and why Wars take place to stop tyrants.

Your position sounds a bit neive.