On June 14, the Senate approved, 85-13, S. 2943, the FY2017 National Defense Authorization Act. The Senate Armed Services Committee passed an earlier version of the bill on May 12 (see The Source, 5/13/16).
According to the committee report, the bill would provide $602.004 billion in discretionary budget authority for FY2017. This amount includes $523.946 billion for the base Department of Defense budget, $19.168 billion for national security programs at the Department of Energy, and $58.89 billion for overseas contingency operations.
The bill would authorize $134.018 billion for military personnel and $7.477 billion for military construction. Within the amount provided for military construction, the bill would authorize $1.32 billion for family housing in FY2017. The legislation also would authorize $33.901 billion for the Defense Health Program.
The measure includes several provisions to address sexual assault in the military and would require women to register for the Selective Service beginning in 2018. The legislation also would authorize up to six weeks of parental leave following the birth or adoption of a child for the primary caregiver. The secondary caregiver would be authorized to take up to 21 days of leave for such events.
