With the threat of a government shutdown quelled for the time being, House and Senate lawmakers have turned their attention to other legislative matters, including defense policy, airport security, and the financial services industry.

Military retirement plans and weapons acquisition

Some notable provisions in the final version of the FY 2016 defense authorization bill (H.R. 1735) seek to improve the way the Department of Defense (DoD) buys and develops weapon systems by giving military service chiefs more involvement in the acquisition decision-making process, and would change DoD’s retirement system in part by allowing new military personnel to contribute to the Thrift Savings Plan — the government’s version of a 401(k) plan — with matching contributions from DoD.

“The reform also preserves a structure that encourages service beyond 12 and then 20 years of service by maintaining the retirement annuity while adding the benefit of allowing a service member to take part of their retirement pay as an upfront lump sum payment,” according to a summary of the bill released by the House Armed Services Committee. “Those currently serving, and having less than twelve years of service, have the option of remaining grandfathered into the old system or choosing the new TSP option.”

The House passed the defense authorization “conference report” on a 270 to 156 vote last week, and the Senate will hold a procedural vote on the bill on Tuesday.

Veto threat over increased military spending

The measure would be cleared for the White House if passed by the Senate, though a veto threat looms over the bill in its current form because the administration opposes language authorizing DoD to supplement its base budget with $38.3 billion in overseas contingency operations (OCO) funding. OCO funds are considered “emergency” appropriations and do not count against the overall budget cap for the department set by the Budget Control Act.

“Shifting base budget resources into OCO risks undermining a mechanism meant to fund incremental costs of overseas conflicts and fails to provide a stable, multi-year budget on which defense planning is based,” argued the White House in a policy statement on an earlier version of the defense bill. “The use of OCO funding to circumvent budget caps in defense spending also ignores the long-term connection between national security and economic security and fails to account for vital national security functions carried out at non-defense agencies.”

Rep. Mac Thornberry

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-TX) called the veto threat “unbelievable” given the current national security environment. “This is a time to stand together for our nation’s security rather than play cheap political games,” asserted Thornberry.

The annual defense authorization bill is considered must-pass legislation by both parties, as Congress has approved and the president has signed one covering each fiscal year over the past half century.

Regardless of how this year’s debate plays out on the FY 2016 defense authorization bill, the FY 2016 defense appropriations bill will have the final say on how much funding DoD receives for its base budget and overseas contingency account. Those decisions likely will be made as part of broader budget negotiations between the White House and Republican leaders in Congress over the coming weeks.

House Schedule

TSA screening of airport and airline employees

The House this week is scheduled to vote on legislation that would direct the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to develop better procedures for screening airport and airline employees following a drug sting operation at the Dallas/Fort Worth airport over the summer exposing vulnerabilities in the screening process of airline workers. The Airport Access Control Security Improvement Act (H.R. 3102) was approved by the House Homeland Security Committee last week.

Other financial services bills

The chamber also will consider several bills reported by the Financial Services Committee, including the: