Key Votes

HR 1585 - National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 - Key Vote

National Key Votes

John Kerry voted Yea (Passage With Amendment) on this legislation.

Read recent statements John Kerry made in this general time period.

Stages

Family

Issues

Stage Details

Legislation - Vetoed (Executive) -
Vetoed by President George Bush

Legislation - Conference Report Adopted (Senate) (90-3) -

Legislation - Conference Report Adopted (House) (370-49) - (Key vote)

Title: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that sets authorization limits for Defense appropriations in fiscal year 2008 at $688.31 billion.

Highlights:
  • Increases the basic monthly pay for members of the uniformed services by 3.5 percent (Sec. 601).
  • Permits veterans who are 100 percent disabled to receive all of both their retirement pay and their disability pay (Sec. 642).
  • Requires the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs to establish an electronic system through which the two departments can share and coordinate the use of personal health care information (Sec. 1635).
  • Provides that drugs prescribed under the TRICARE pharmaceutical program will be treated as a part of the Department of Defense procurement, and that these drugs are then subject to the pricing restrictions applicable to the procurement of drugs by federal agencies (Sec. 703).
  • Establishes the National Security Personnel System as a human resources management system for the Department of Defense, and requires that this system allows employees to practice collective bargaining through labor organizations of their own choosing (Sec. 1106).
  • Establishes additional Congressional oversight at various stages of major defense acquisitions (Sec. 813).
  • Prohibits the Department of Defense from awarding most lead systems integrator contracts after the start of the 2010 fiscal year (Sec. 802).
  • Provides that the Inspector General of the Department of Defense and Inspectors General for Iraq Reconstruction and Afghanistan Reconstruction shall develop plans for auditing contracts made by the Department of Defense and other federal agencies (Sec. 842).
  • Authorizes $187.14 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan operations.
See The Voting Record

Legislation - Bill Passed (Senate) (92-3) - (Key vote)

Title: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that sets authorization limits for Defense appropriations in fiscal year 2008 at $653.22 billion..

Highlights:
  • Expresses the sense of the Senate that the United States should support a political settlement in Iraq that would create a loose federal system (Sec. 1537).
  • Expresses the sense of the Congress that the United States should officially designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran as a foreign terrorist organization and assign it to the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists (Sec. 1538[b]).
  • Reaffirms support for all men and women of the United States Armed Forces, strongly condemns any attacks on General David Petraeus and all members of the US Armed Forces and specifically condemns Moveon.org's advertisement about General David Petraeus (Sec. 1079).
  • Establishes criteria to regulate private security contracts in areas of combat and require contractors to provide reports to the Department of Defense on operations and incidents (Sec. 871).
  • Requires the Secretary of Defense to submit to Congressional defense committees a report on the total requirement numbers, funding, transportation schedule, safety issues, and long term sustainment capabilities of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles (MRAP), and authorizes $23.60 billion for the procurement of 15,200 MRAP Vehicles (Secs. 1517, 1543).
  • Allows the U.S. Attorney General to assist law enforcement agencies in the criminal investigation or prosecution of crimes of violence that are "motivated by prejudice based on the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of the victim" and sets a maximum punishment of 10 years in prison and a possible fine for hate crimes (Sec. 1023).
  • Allows the Secretary of State to authorize a reward of $50.00 million for the capture or death, or information leading to the capture or death, of Osama bin Laden (Sec. 1219).
  • Requires the Secretary of Defense to establish a process for assessing the cognitive functioning of members of the U.S. Armed Forces deployed outside the United States both prior to and after deployment (Sec. 1632).
  • Authorizes $15.00 million to be appropriated for the Army to conduct a program for Gulf War Illness Research (Sec. 214).
  • Authorizes $150.91 billion for appropriations for the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
  • Authorizes $23.82 billion for Defense Department, armed forces, and veterans health services appropriations.
  • Authorizes $142.88 billion for military operations and maintenance appropriations.
  • Authorizes $109.35 billion for military personnel appropriations.
  • Authorizes $109.27 billion for military procurement appropriations.
Note:

NOTE: THIS IS A SUBSTITUTE BILL, MEANING THE LANGUAGE OF THE ORIGINAL BILL HAS BEEN REPLACED. THE DEGREE TO WHICH THE SUBSTITUTE BILL TEXT DIFFERS FROM THE PREVIOUS VERSION OF THE TEXT CAN VARY GREATLY.

See The Voting Record

Legislation - Bill Passed (House) (397-27) -

Legislation - Introduced (House) -

Title: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008


Sponsors

  • Ike Skelton (MO - D) (Out Of Office)

Co-sponsors

  • Duncan L. Hunter (CA - R) (Out Of Office)