This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Washington • Defying a veto threat, the GOP-led House is pressing ahead with debate on a $602 billion defense policy bill that seeks to halt an erosion of the U.S. military's combat readiness by purchasing more weapons and forbidding further cuts in troop levels.
The legislation also proposes greater oversight of the White House's National Security Council, prohibits prisoners held at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention facility from being moved to the U.S. and gives service members a higher pay raise than the Pentagon recommended. The White House said President Barack Obama would reject the legislation if it reached his desk.
The Obama administration opposes is a Republican plan to shift $18 billion in wartime spending to pay for additional ships, jet fighters, helicopters and more that the Pentagon didn't request.
To make up for the shortfall in the wartime account, Obama's successor would submit a supplemental budget to Congress in early 2017, according to Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, the plan's architect and the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. He and other proponents of the spending increase say it is essential to halt a decline in the military's ability to respond to global threats that has worsened on Obama's watch.
But Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the plan actually degrades combat readiness by retaining troops and buying equipment that can't be sustained, effectively creating a hollowed out force.