Congress

The White House is objecting to three missile defense provisions in the House version of the fiscal year 2021 authorization bill, including legislation that would reinstate funding for the Homeland Defense Radar-Hawaii, mandate an analysis of alternatives for a homeland defense architecture, and the panel's recommendations regarding the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor.

The House voted 241-173 today against an amendment to the defense authorization bill that would have removed an existing law requiring the Pentagon to send Congress an annual list of unfunded priorities.

While the Trump administration has published a long-awaited rule to ban contractors from using certain Chinese equipment, industry groups are still seeking an extension to the looming deadline, as they argue there's not enough time for businesses to digest the sweeping regulation and that it will add billions in compliance costs to a struggling U.S. economy.

House appropriators are criticizing the Defense Department for spending most of its COVID-19 relief funds propping up weapon systems manufacturers, rather than bolstering the U.S. supply of personal protective equipment.

A House panel is proposing deep cuts to the Navy's fiscal year 2021 request for ship maintenance, repair and modernization, admonishing the service for its execution of a private contracted ship maintenance pilot program that aims to help address persistent and substantial maintenance delays that hamper the Navy's ability to restore readiness.

The House Appropriations defense subcommittee is moving to prohibit the Navy from decommissioning the first four Littoral Combat Ships, calling the move "shortsighted" and directing the Pentagon to consider upgrading and deploying the ships to South and Central America.

The House Appropriations defense subcommittee’s mark of the fiscal year 2021 defense spending bill would fully fund KC-46 tanker procurement, add money to maintain the MQ-9 Reaper production line and support the Space Force’s three requested National Security Space Launch services.

The House Appropriations defense subcommittee is poised to consider a fiscal year 2021 defense spending bill that funds Pentagon modernization to the tune of $244.7 billion, but also sets the stage for confrontation with the White House over the border wall and the names of military bases.

The House Armed Services Committee last week adopted a provision that would direct the Defense Department to explore co-development with Japan of a new guided missile, a follow-on to the Standard Missile-Block IIA ballistic missile interceptor developed by the two nations.