Thornberry Releases NDAA Conference Report

Today, Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, announced that negotiators have reached an agreement on the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (NDAA). He was joined in making the announcement by Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee and Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

"This year's NDAA provides the resources our troops need for a strong national defense and does so in a fiscally-responsible way, while also reforming the way the Department does business and cares for the troops. It is the product of hard work and collaboration from Members on both sides of the aisle from both the House and Senate," said Thornberry. "With the Taliban retaking Afghan cities, ISIL marching across the Middle East, Russia on the ground in Ukraine and now in Syria, we need this bill to pass as soon as possible. I am hopeful that the president will remove his veto threat, putting politics aside and putting the country's security first," he continued.

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 authorizes $515 billion in spending for national defense and an additional $89.2 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) for a total of $604.2 billion. Excluding an additional $7.7 billion for activities outside the committee's jurisdiction, the total funding for national defense is equivalent to the President's total request for $611.9 billion in defense discretionary spending. As part of the Overseas Contingency Operations account, the proposal funds $38.3 billion in Operation and Maintenance activities in support of base budget requirements for national defense.

This legislation is substantially based on two bills: (1) H.R. 1735, the National Defense Authorization Act for FY16 which passed the House on May 15, 2015 by a vote of 269-151; and (2) S.1376, a product of the Senate Armed Services Committee which passed the Senate on June 18th, 2015, with a vote of 71-25.

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