Defense bill should be ready for vote next week, say aides

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By Rick Maze
Times staff writer

Congressional negotiators are making good progress on the 2006 defense authorization bill and plan to have a final bill and report ready for a final vote by next week, according to aides involved in the talks.

“I think we will be ready so the House can vote on Wednesday,” said a Senate Armed Services Committee aide. The Senate would take up the bill the next day, sending the $422 billion measure to the White House for President Bush’s signature.

A veto threat has been hanging over the bill because of Senate language prohibiting the torture, abuse or humiliation of prisoners held by the U.S. military, but aides predicted a compromise will be reached as a result of direct negotiations between the White House and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., chief sponsor of the provision. McCain was held as a prisoner of war in Vietnam for five years during which he was repeatedly tortured by his captors.

Predictions for a speedy wrap-up of negotiations, quick votes and a presidential signing before Christmas was the first bit of optimism heard about the annual defense policy bill. Work on the measure should have been completed by Oct. 1, the start of the fiscal year, but has dragged on due to a myriad of problems and disputes, with the ongoing operations in Iraq becoming a key focus of disagreement.

The House passed its version of the defense bill May 25. But the Senate, with several starts and stops, didn’t pass its version until Nov. 15, just before Congress left town for a previously scheduled Thanksgiving break. The House returned to work this week, but the Senate will not meet until Monday.

While Congress has been away, the armed services committee staffs and some key lawmakers have been ironing out the hundreds of differences between the bills, which is why the bill could be finished as soon as the Senate returns to work.

This schedule, if it holds, would provide for enactment of the bill in time to prevent the Jan. 1 termination of many military bonus and special pay programs, something both Congress and the Bush administration want to avoid.

Final passage of the separate but even more important 2006 defense appropriations bill is expected by Dec. 20, aides said.

Because that bill also includes the McCain provision outlawing torture of prisoners, resolving this issue on the defense authorization bill will help clear a path to passage of the funding bill.

But other hurdles still exist. Congressional leaders have held up the defense appropriations bill — which they are almost certain President Bush will sign because it includes funding for both peacetime operations and the ongoing missions in Iraq and Afghanistan — because they may attach other spending initiatives to it, including funds for hurricane relief and avian flu research.