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House Committee Approves Defense Spending Bill

On May 30, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense approved the FY2015 Defense spending bill (as-yet-unnumbered) in a closed session.

According to the committee summary, the legislation would provide $491 billion in discretionary funds for programs at the Department of Defense. This amount is $4.1 billion over FY2014 and $200 million over President Obama’s FY2015 request. The bill also would allocate $79.4 billion for overseas contingency operations in Afghanistan.

The total includes $128.1 billion for military personnel, $669 million below FY2014. In addition, the measure would provide $31.6 billion for the Defense Health Program and military family programs, which is $1.1 billion below FY2014 and $360 million below the administration’s request.

The legislation would allocate $246 million for cancer research, which includes research for breast and ovarian cancers.

Additional information will become available once the committee releases its report.