On December 4, the House approved, 300-119, an amendment to H.R. 3979, compromise legislation for the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The House approved its version of the bill (H.R. 4435) on May 22, while the Senate Armed Services Committee approved its version (S. 2410) on the same day (see The Source, 5/23/14).
According to the bill and House Armed Services Committee summary, the legislation would authorize $577.1 billion for the Department of Defense (DoD), the Department of Energy (DoE), and overseas contingency operations (OCO), which includes $495.5 billion for the base DoD budget, $17.9 billion for DoE, and $63.7 billion for OCO. The overall total is $63.4 billion more than the Senate bill, but $15.6 billion less than the House bill. The bill would authorize $30.684 billion for the Defense Health Program, $6.551 billion for military construction, which includes $1.19 billion for family housing, and $134.716 billion for military personnel.
The legislation would address the issue of sexual assault in the military in several ways. It would require DoD to provide special victims counsel representation to reservists who are not otherwise eligible for military legal assistance. In addition, the bill would eliminate the “good soldier defense” in determining the innocence of a solider accused of sexual assault. Victims also would be consulted regarding their preference for prosecuting offenders via court-martial or civilian channels.
The measure would authorize breastfeeding support as a covered benefit under TRICARE, the military health care program. Such support would include breastfeeding supplies and counseling during pregnancy and postpartum.
The bill includes a sense of the Congress regarding the importance of security and civic participation of Afghan women and the need to increase the number of women serving in the Afghan security forces.
The bill includes provisions to create a commission to study the creation of a National Women’s History Museum on the National Mall. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved S. 398, which would establish such a commission, on November 13 (see The Source, 11/14/14); the House approved its version of the legislation on May 7 (see The Source, 5/9/14).
The measure also includes provisions to establish the Harriet Tubman National Historical Parks Act, which would designate new national parks in Maryland and New York. The Senate approved its version of that bill (S. 247) on July 9 (see The Source, 7/11/14), while the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation held a hearing on similar legislation (H.R. 664) in June 2013 (see The Source, 6/7/13).
The legislation incorporates the text of the Women’s Small Business Procurement Parity Act, S. 2481. The bill would give federal agencies guidance in meeting the goal of awarding five percent of federal contracts to women-owned small businesses. The House Small Business Committee approved similar legislation, the Women’s Procurement Program Equalization Act (H.R. 2452), on March 5 (see The Source, 5/7/14).
