As Crises Proliferate, Veto Of Key Bipartisan Defense Bill "Would Be More Than Outrageous"

Today in Washington, D.C. - Oct. 7, 2015
The House reconvened at 10 AM today.

The House is expected to consider today H.R. 3192 "To provide for a temporary safe harbor from the enforcement of integrated disclosure requirements for mortgage loan transactions under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 and the Truth in Lending Act, and for other purposes, and providing for proceedings during the period from October 12, 2015, through October 19, 2015."

Bills passed yesterday
H.R. 1525 (Voice Vote) — "To require the Securities and Exchange Commission to make certain improvements to form 10-K and regulation S-K, and for other purposes."
H.R. 1553 (411-0) — "To amend the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to specify which smaller institutions may qualify for an 18-month examination cycle."
H.R. 1839 (404-0) — "To amend the Securities Act of 1933 to exempt certain transactions involving purchases by accredited investors, and for other purposes."
H.R. 2091 (Voice Vote) — "To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to clarify the ability to request consumer reports in certain cases to establish and enforce child support payments and awards."
H.R. 2168 (Voice Vote) — "To make the current Dungeness crab fishery management regime permanent and for other purposes."
H.R. 3102 (Voice Vote) — "To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to reform programs of the Transportation Security Administration, streamline transportation security regulations, and for other purposes."
H.R. 3510 (Voice Vote) — "To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to require the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop a cybersecurity strategy for the Department of Homeland Security, and for other purposes."
S. 1300 (Voice Vote) — "To amend the section 221 of the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide relief for adoptive families from immigrant visa fees in certain situations."
S. 2078 (Voice Vote) — "To reauthorize the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, and for other purposes."
S. 986 (Voice Vote) — "To require the Secretary of the Interior to take into trust 4 parcels of Federal land for the benefit of certain Indian Pueblos in the State of New Mexico."

Yesterday, House Speaker Boehner applauded the House previous passage of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom Reauthorization Act (S. 2078): "Christians are being persecuted around the world, especially by radical Islamic terrorists in the Middle East, but the Obama administration has done virtually nothing to protect them. For more than a year, President Obama failed to nominate a Special Envoy to Promote Religious Freedom of Religious Minorities in the Near East and South Central Asia, a position created by Congress in 2014. With beheadings and mass violence on the rise, the administration’s lack of engagement is troubling. I’m glad Congress has once again acted to protect religious minorities and defend religious freedom abroad, but the president must get serious about defending this universal human right.”

Today, House Speaker Boehner addressed pending House legislation to "Lift the Oil Export Ban to Create Jobs, Help Families & Support Our Allies." He underscored what the measure will mean for jobs, gas prices, and America’s standing in the world at a press conference. He said, “The House continues to focus on the people’s priorities – including more jobs in our country and higher pay. In my view, America’s energy boom has the potential to reset the economic foundation of our economy and improve our standing around the world.

“One thing we can do now is lift the outdated ban on exporting crude oil from America. Lifting this ban would create an estimated one million new jobs in America. It would help bring prices down at the pump for America’s consumers. And, it would certainly be good for our friends and allies around the world. ..."

The Senate reconvened at 9:30 AM today and resumed post-cloture consideration of the conference report for the Fiscal Year 2016 Defense authorization bill, H.R. 1735. The Defense authorization bill (H.R. 1735) lays out Pentagon programs and military policy. This bill has passed both houses before on a bipartisan basis, but President Obama has threatened to veto it.

At 2 PM, the Senate will vote on adoption of the conference report for H.R. 1735.

Yesterday, the Senate voted 73-26 to invoke cloture (i.e. cut off debate and move to a final vote) on the conference report for the Defense authorization bill.

This afternoon, the Senate will vote on final passage of the Defense authorization bill, which has received bipartisan support in both houses of Congress. Yet the White House is still threatening a veto at this critical time.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell explained why the bill is important in a speech this morning: “I was glad to see the Senate come together yesterday to advance the bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act. This bipartisan defense bill will support our men and women in uniform in many ways.

“It will attack bureaucratic waste, and authorize pay raises and improved quality-of-life programs for our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines. It will strengthen sexual assault prevention and response. It will help wounded warriors and heroes who struggle with mental-health challenges. Most importantly, it will equip the men and women who serve with what they need to defend this nation. . . .

“But the White House has issued threats that the President might veto this bipartisan bill for unrelated partisan reasons. That would be more than outrageous. It would be yet another grave foreign policy miscalculation from this Administration, something our country can no longer afford.”

News: The crises around the world certainly haven’t let up. 
According to the AP, “Syrian troops backed by Russian airstrikes battled insurgents in central Syria on Wednesday in the first major ground fighting since Moscow began launching air raids on militants last week, activists said. The fighting comes as the Russian airstrikes appear to have emboldened Syrian troops to launch a ground offensive after suffering a string of setbacks in northwestern Syria over the past few months.”

The Wall Street Journal reports, “Iraqi Shiite lawmakers and militia leaders are urging Russia to launch airstrikes on Islamic State militants in their country, an escalation that would heighten tensions with Washington and increase risks of a clash between the two powers.

“Since Moscow began bombing opponents of the regime in Syria last week, Iraq’s Shiite politicians, who dominate government, have been largely united in their praise of Moscow’s intervention and in calls for Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to invite Russia to join the battle. Mr. Abadi said he would welcome Russian strikes as long as they were coordinated with the U.S.-led coalition’s air campaign against Islamic State in Iraq.”

An AP investigation finds, “In the backwaters of Eastern Europe, authorities working with the FBI have interrupted four attempts in the past five years by gangs with suspected Russian connections that sought to sell radioactive material to Middle Eastern extremists, The Associated Press has learned. The latest known case came in February this year, when a smuggler offered a huge cache of deadly cesium — enough to contaminate several city blocks — and specifically sought a buyer from the Islamic State group.

“Criminal organizations, some with ties to the Russian KGB's successor agency, are driving a thriving black market in nuclear materials in the tiny and impoverished country of Moldova, investigators say. The successful busts, however, were undercut by striking shortcomings: Kingpins got away, and those arrested evaded long prison sentences, sometimes quickly returning to nuclear smuggling, AP found.

“Moldovan police and judicial authorities shared investigative case files with AP in an effort to spotlight how dangerous the nuclear black market has become. They say the breakdown in cooperation between Russia and the West means that it has become much harder to know whether smugglers are finding ways to move parts of Russia's vast store of radioactive materials — an unknown quantity of which has leached into the black market. . . .

“Moldovan investigators can't be sure that the suspects who fled didn't hold on to the bulk of the nuclear materials. Nor do they know whether the groups, which are pursuing buyers who are enemies of the West, may have succeeded in selling deadly nuclear material to extremists at a time when the Islamic State has made clear its ambition to use weapons of mass destruction. . . .

“‘In the age of the Islamic State, it's especially terrifying to have real smugglers of nuclear bomb material apparently making connections with real buyers,’ says Matthew Bunn, a Harvard professor who led a secret study for the Clinton administration on the security of Russia's nuclear arsenal.”

Another WSJ story notes, “The top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan took public exception to the president on Tuesday, saying a long-standing plan for drastic troop reductions there should be dropped in favor of a bigger American presence in the future. . . . The White House Tuesday said President Barack Obama was reviewing options and would consider Gen. Campbell’s recommendations, along with views of U.S. diplomatic and intelligence officials. The Obama administration has planned since last year to reduce U.S. troops in Afghanistan from the current force of 10,000 to 1,000 or less by the time Mr. Obama leaves office.

“Gen. Campbell, the commander of U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan, told senators he favors leaving more troops than that plan foresees. ‘Based on conditions on the ground, I do believe we have to provide our senior leadership options different than the current plan we are going with,’ he said.

“Explaining his stand, Gen. Campbell said much has happened since Mr. Obama’s 2014 decision to sharply reduce the U.S. military force in Afghanistan. His current recommendations to the president reflect events of the past two years, including the rise of Islamic State and an increase in insurgent violence. ‘As I take a look at conditions on the ground…when the president made that decision, it did not take into account the change over the last two years,’ Gen. Campbell told senators.

“He said the current plan — to leave an embassy-based force in Kabul — wouldn’t allow the U.S. to conduct counterterrorism operations and its ability to train Afghan forces ‘would be very limited.’”

In light of all these serious issues, Leader McConnell again discussed his deep and longstanding frustration with the Obama administration’s approach to foreign policy. “The President’s approach to foreign policy has been nothing if not consistent over the past seven years. I’ve described this in detail many times before. From repeatedly seeking to declare some arbitrary end to the War on Terror, to discarding the tools we have to wage it, to placing unhealthy levels of trust in unaccountable international organizations; the President’s foreign policy has been as predictable as it has been ineffectual.

“Take, for instance, his heavy reliance on economy-of-force train-and-assist missions. This has been the primary tool of the President to cover our drawdown of conventional forces. The train-and-equip concept is to train indigenous forces to battle insurgencies in places like Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. . . .

“The President never explained a strategy — beyond direct action, like unmanned aerial vehicle strikes — for those cases when indigenous forces proved insufficient, as we’ve seen in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen.

“Nevertheless, this concept of operations suited the President because it allowed him to continue with force structure cuts to our conventional operational units. It allowed him to continue refusing to accept that leaving behind residual forces in places like Iraq and Afghanistan might represent a means by which this nation could preserve the strategic gains made through sacrifice. It also allowed him to continue refusing to rebuild our conventional and nuclear forces.

“This was never an approach designed for success. Today, it’s clear this is now an approach that has also reached its limits.”

Therefore, Leader McConnell argued, this Defense authorization bill is critical to begin correcting some of this administrations shortcomings. “Without rebuilding the force, we cannot deter China’s efforts to extend its conventional reach in the South China Sea. Without rebuilding the force, we cannot deter Russian adventurism in places like Crimea. Without rebuilding and deploying the force, we cannot hope to deter Russia’s gambit to increase its Middle East presence or its air campaign in Syria.

“And, under this strategy, when the host nation militaries we trained and equipped proved inadequate to defeat the insurgency in question, the strategy allowed for a persistent, enduring terrorist threat in those countries.

“That’s just what we’ve seen with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, with the Taliban, and now with ISIL.”

He concluded, “The next President, regardless of party, will need to craft plans, policies and programs to balance against this expansion. Signing the bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act we pass today — and of course matching the authorization with its corresponding funding — would represent a good first step along that path.

“And if the President is serious in his just-restated commitment to taking all steps necessary to combat ISIL, then he'll know that signing this bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act is anything but the ‘waste of time’ some of his allies might pretend it to be. It's essential.”

Other related news articles:

1. AP: “Russian airstrikes appear to have emboldened Syrian troops to launch a ground offensive”
2. The Wall Street Journal: Iraqi Shiite Politicians Call for Russian Airstrikes on Islamic State
3. The Wall Street Journal: U.S. General Urges Slower Drawdown of Troops in Afghanistan
4. AP INVESTIGATION: Nuclear smugglers sought extremist buyers
5. Politico: Iran's supreme leader: No more talks with the U.S.

---

Tags: Defense Appropriations Bill, National Security, global stability, presidential veto threat, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!